After medal, hope dawns for sepak takraw
NEW DELHI: India’s maiden sepak takraw medal at the Asian Games not only brought joy to the players, but also relief. Ahead of the 2018 edition, with disciplines like football not getting the nod from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), there were murmurs about the viability of sending teams in a lesser-known sport like sepak takraw.
The sport, however, gave India their fourth bronze on Tuesday. “It’s a huge relief. Ahead of the Games, a certain section said there was no point in sending sepak takraw teams to Jakarta when a prominent sport like football was missing. We were made a laughing stock. I hope, after this medal, we will no longer be a soft target,” Yogendra Singh Dahiya, Sepak Takraw Federation of India secretary general, said over phone from Jakarta. “Almost all players in our squad come from humble backgrounds. Harish Kumar, part of the Regu team that won bronze, is a street hawker in Delhi. Ngathem Jotin Singh, who hails from Manipur, worked as a daily labourer. Ear- lier, many players left the sport because there was no future.”
However, things are improving. “Recently, 10 players from our team were employed by the SSB (Sashastra Seema Bal) in Assam. However, as sepak takraw is not a listed sport in the Department of Personnel and Training, employment is still a problem,” Dahiya said.
Sepak takraw is a volleyballstyle sport in which players use their feet, head, knees and chest to hit the ball across the net. They aren’t allowed to use their hands. The Indian Regu team was drawn with Iran and Indonesia in Group B in the team competition. India lost to Indonesia but beat Iran to finish second in their group. It was enough to seal a semi-final spot where they lost to defending champions Thailand to finish with a bronze.