Move over for the latest sport to awaken the sports scene in Sri Lanka. It is the Sepaktakraw Championships which will take place today (May 29) at the British School Colombo Indoor Sports Complex at 63 Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo 8. The championships will commence from 9 am and the finals will be from 3 pm onwards.
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| A sepaktakraw player in action. |
The championships has an added impetus this year as the local Sepaktakraw Association is making arrangements to participate at the 2011 International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 19 to 24.
The ISTAF has extended an invitation to the Amateur Sepaktakraw Association of Sri Lanka to compete in the Men’s Competition and to send a Men’s regular team (each regular team comprising of five players) to the tournament.
The game which resembles volleyball but played without the use of hands is very active these days especially in the outstations such as Hambantota, Badulla, Kandy, Kurunegala and Nawalapitiya. In the Colombo District the sport is actively participated in Dehiwela, Ratmalana, Kolonnawa and Maharagama.
For those who are not conversant with the sport, it is played between two sides on a rectangular sport (the size of a badminton court) with a ball woven of synthetic fiber consisting of 12 holes and twenty intersections weighing between 150 gm to 160 g, for women. A team consists of three players to a side.
The game is similar to volleyball but played with the feet, head or any part of the body without the use of arms. Spiking with the foot and blocking with the foot or body is done airborne at the net which is 1.55 mm in height and erected at the center dividing the court to two equal halves. |
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