India, Pakistan, Nepal to compete at Sepaktakraw Championship 2015
View(s):For the first time in the annals of Sepaktakraw in Sri Lanka three foreign teams are expected to participate at this year’s Sepaktakraw Championship to be held on May 2 and 3 at the Indoor Sports Complex of St. Joseph’s College Colombo.
A Sepaktakraw game in progress.
Sepaktakraw is a game played with a rattan ball on the size of a badminton court displaying acrobatic skills without the use of hands. It is extremely popular in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and Germany and is now catching up in the United States.
The events to be held in Colombo are the Doubles Event and the Regu Event for men and women. India and Pakistan are expected to participate in both men and women’s categories while Nepal will field only a men’s team. They will compete with 15 local men’s teams and their women’s teams will face off with six local women’s teams.
The participation of foreign teams will no doubt give a big boost to the local teams of facing tougher and stronger opposition than what they would face locally.
The Secretary General of the South Asian Sepaktakraw Federation Yogendra Singh Dahiya of India had first made the request to the President of the Amateur Sepaktakraw Association of Sri Lanka T. Nizam Hajireen, who is also the Deputy President South Asian Sepaktakraw Federation to include the SARCC member countries India, Pakistan and Nepal in the Sri Lankan championships to gauge the success of such a move, as a fore-runner to have the
Nizam Hajireen
game included as an event at the next SARCC Games to be held in November this year in India.
The Amateur Sepaktakraw Association of Sri Lanka (ASTASL) has made an appeal to the Ministry of Sports for financial assistance to host the foreign teams whilst the financial aspects of staging the event is the responsibility of the Ex-Co and Organising Committee members of the Association who are striving hard to meet the required budgetary estimates amidst great difficulties.
According to the President of the ASTASL Nizam Hajireen the game caters to the sporting aspects of youth from middle-class and lower middle-class families who though talented do not have the resources to pursue glamour sports in the country. Hajireen is a triple international having represented the country at Rugby, Football and Sepaktakraw.