This is cute. One website, in promising to teach sepak takraw in five steps, says the first is to flip a coin to see who serves first. It is like saying that writing a novel is merely the outcome to the first step of buying a pen (or today, a laptop).
Sepak takraw? At some point in our sports-watching lives on TV, we have all come across this South East Asian sport: volleyball with feet, smaller ball, crazy skills and obscure.
Except that every description of it, including the one above, is monumentally inadequate. Here is one, which sounds like a bad circus flyer: “an acrobatic hybrid of soccer and volleyball that has spectators gripped with its non-stop dynamism and flair”.
Here is another, better one, from Drew Lilley, who is the only English-language analyst of the sport (and has a column on the sport’s official website called SepaktakDrew – get it?): “It’s as close as any ball sport will ever get to a martial art.”
Lilley gets closer but still does not get right there. These athletes are like a bunch of gymnasts playing hacky-sack with a slightly bigger ball across a net about 1.55m high.
They leap like basketball players and can control a ball considerably smaller than a football, just as well as professional footballers.
Their version of the volleyball spike – hard enough to do well with hands – is to do it as an overhead kick, except that it is not just an overhead kick, but a kind of backflip which lands them back on their feet somehow, or at least on the wrists, from which to spring back up immediately.
That alone puts two sports to shame: volleyball for using hands, and football, in which to even attempt an overhead kick is seen as some otherworldly skill. To score from one? They are spectacular, sure, but they do not happen often enough. In sepak takraw, overhead kicks are the default setting.
For passing viewers, it can be easy to forget it is a sport at all, with all the notions of competition that implies. That would be a perfectly reasonable reaction, too, as it was long considered, in Thailand especially, a form of exercise more than anything else.
It is easier to just get lost in the wonder of discovering the kinds of things a human body can do, and the degree of coordination and cooperation it can create. At first, scores and teams barely matter. And it is a genuinely insane spectacle – if you look at photographs of a game, the natural impulse is to rotate them 90 degrees so that it makes sense.
The sport is spectacular and undemanding on the spectator in every way – matches rarely last an hour – and yet it remains an obscurity. Few people outside of the region where it originated are aware of its existence.
At least at the Asian Games, it is a pretty big deal, where it has been a discipline since 1990. Thailand and Malaysia, who both claim to have invented the sport (it has disputed origins), have been the dominant forces, and the former has won 18 of the 27 gold medals awarded at the Asiad.
There remains around it a sense of amateur disorder. On Monday in Incheon, for instance, a doubles team from Singapore was awarded a bronze medal because Laos did not turn up on time for a semi-final against the hosts South Korea.
That is not a huge surprise, given its history. The sport has been played in one form or another since as long ago as the 15th century. One lineage traces it back to a game the Chinese military played and spread through their trade links.
For years, each of the main countries that played it – Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines – had their own versions and rules.
It was only in 1960 that they got together to standardise rules and attempt to bring some kind of control. Still, the International Sepak Takraw (a variation on the spelling) Federation (ISTAF) was not formed until 1992, which, even accounting for the restricted, localised spread of the sport, is tardy.
That, more than anything, has kept it from really breaking out into newer terrain. Now at least a snazzy new league is in place, and as is obligatory for any such sport, an Olympic flame has sparked within.
The ISTAF reckons it has a hope of becoming an Olympic sport as early as 2024, though given it has only 28 registered national associations, aspiration is far outstripping ground reality. Equally obligatorily, it calls itself the fastest-growing sport in Asia.
That is an arguable claim given the one, glaringly obvious barrier to entry: not everyone can walk up and overhead-kick a small, plastic ball precisely where it needs to go and still land on their feet. Few people can do it after years of practice.
But let us be honest about this. Even now, there are at least a couple of Olympic sports that will provide less entertainment and spectacle during their lifetime than a single point of sepak takraw.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
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RESULTS
Catchweight 82kg
Piotr Kuberski (POL) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ) by decision.
Women’s bantamweight
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) beat Cornelia Holm (SWE) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Omar Hussein (PAL) beat Vitalii Stoian (UKR) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Josh Togo (LEB) beat Ali Dyusenov (UZB) by unanimous decision.
Flyweight
Isaac Pimentel (BRA) beat Delfin Nawen (PHI) TKO round-3.
Catchweight 80kg
Seb Eubank (GBR) beat Emad Hanbali (SYR) KO round 1.
Lightweight
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Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) beat Reydon Romero (PHI) submission 1.
Welterweight
Juho Valamaa (FIN) beat Ahmed Labban (LEB) by unanimous decision.
Featherweight
Elias Boudegzdame (ALG) beat Austin Arnett (USA) by unanimous decision.
Super heavyweight
Maciej Sosnowski (POL) beat Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) by submission round 1.
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Top 10 most polluted cities
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- Peshawar, Pakistan
- Bagpat, India
Company%20profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Jebel Ali results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: AF Al Moreeb, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 64,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: One Vision, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gabr, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
4pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 96,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Just A Penny, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
4.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Torno Subito, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: Untold Secret, Jose Santiago, Salem bin Ghadayer
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
West Indies v India - Third ODI
India 251-4 (50 overs)
Dhoni (78*), Rahane (72), Jadhav (40)
Cummins (2-56), Bishoo (1-38)
West Indies 158 (38.1 overs)
Mohammed (40), Powell (30), Hope (24)
Ashwin (3-28), Yadav (3-41), Pandya (2-32)
India won by 93 runs
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
