Senior National Sepak Takraw Championships: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR SENIOR NATIONAL SEPAK TAKRAW...

You could be forgiven for not knowing what it is. But not for not clicking above now for not finding out.

The Andhra Pradesh Sepak Takraw Association, in association with the Sports Authority of AP and the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, is jointly organising the 17th Senior National Sepak Takraw Championships, from 21st to 24th September, at the Victory Playground Indoor Stadium.

Teams from 25 state units are participating in this championhip, in both the men's and women's sections. Along with Manipur, the defending champion in both the men's and the women's categories, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Assam, Goa, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal are the teams that will battle-out in regu as well as team events. States that played last year's edition of quarterfinalists are eligible for teams, whereas states that finished outside this bracket will play the regu event. The matches wil be played on league-cum-knockout basis.

AP Legislative Assembly Speaker Suresh Reddy will inaugurate the championships. The state team of Andhra Pradesh will be captioned by K Srikanth in the men's and Sameena Begum in the women's section.

The game of Sepak Takraw dates back to the 15th century when it was played by indigenous Malays. But the name is derived from two languages - Sepak means kick, and Takraw means cane ball. The ball is made of cane or hard-plastic.

A Sepak Takraw game is played between two regus (teams in English), with each regu consisting of three players and one substitute. Each game is composed of three sets in the same manner as badminton. Only three players from each side are allowed inside the court during play, but a substitution can be called anytime during the game. However, once a substitution is made, no further substitutions are allowed for the duration of the game.

In a formal competition, there are two kinds of matches - the regu and the team competition. In a regu competition, two regus play a game consisting of three sets, and the regu with the mosts sets won is declared the winner.

In a team competition, each team fields three regus, so that a Sepak Takraw team has a total of 12 players. The first regus of each team will play a three set game, followed by the second regus of each team. If the winner of the first and second regu games belong to the same team, then the match is finished, otherwise the third regus will play for the deciding game.

Please contact Premraj at 2322-5397/2322-5345 for further details.