Bhubaneswar/Berhampur, Aug. 21: Move over football and cricket, lesser-known international games are slowly gaining popularity in the state.
After rugby players tasted success at national and international events (KISS girls won a tournament in London last year and this year the state women's team emerged on the top in India), the latest craze among youths is Southeast Asian sport sepak takraw. It is being followed in 26 of the 30 districts in Odisha.
Odisha State Sepak Takraw Association is hosting a two-day state-level tournament at Khallikote College Stadium in Berhampur from Thursday. Twenty-four teams, of which eight are girls, are participating in the tourney. "We would select probable players for the upcoming Federation Cup to be held in Rourkela from October 2 to 4. The probables would be trained in Cuttack from August 29 to September 6 after which the final list of players would be drawn up," Rout said.
State players, especially girls, are excelling in various national-level tournaments. The junior girls team of Odisha is the defending national champion in a tournament held at Jodhpur in Rajasthan in March. The senior girls' team emerged runners-up at the Bhilai tournament in December last year, while the sub-junior girls' team became champion at a tournament held in Kanyakumari in May.
Odisha boys' team has also brought laurels to the state. They won the 17th sub-junior Sepak Takraw National Championship held at Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh in January.
The history of the game goes back to the 15th century when the Thai and the Malay played it. Recorded history of the game exists in Wat Phra Kaew - the temple that serves as a resting place for the Emerald Buddha. This sacred Buddhist temple in Bangkok (Thailand) contains murals depicting the Hindu god, Hanuman, playing takraw in a ring with a troop of monkeys. Other historical documents record the game being played during the reign of King Naresuan (1590-1605). Sepak is 'kick' in Malay and takraw is the 'ball' in Thai. In 1960, Asian Sepak Takraw Federation was founded and the sport was officially given the name sepak takraw. The first international competition was held in Malaysia in 1965 at the South-East Asian Peninsular Games.
In volleyball, one can use hands but in sepak takraw the players are only allowed to touch the ball with their feet, body or head. This leads to some of the most amazing acrobatics ever seen on a court. In fact, sepak takraw is very much like a mix between volleyball, gymnastics, kung fu and circus acrobatics, Munna Jena, organising secretary of the tournament said.
The sport is now being practised in all districts of the state except Nuapada, Balangir, Mayurbhanj and Gajapati, said Sahadev Rout, secretary of the state Association.
"Sepak takraw was introduced at the national level in the 1982 Asian Games and in Odisha in 1998. But in these 17 years, it has become very popular in Odisha and we are faring pretty well with limited resources," Rout said.
Four Odia girls, Tulsi Behera from Dhenkanal, Alibha Das, Itishri Samal and Chunmun Samal (all three from Cuttack), and one boy, Mihirkanta Behera, and coach Lalatendu Swain, both from Cuttack, have joined a national training camp under way in Hyderabad.
