KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 (Bernama) -- The 37th Thai King's Cup Sepaktakraw World Championship will lose some of its lustre as Indonesia and the Philippines, semi-finallists in the team regu event at the ISTAF Sepaktakraw World Cup here last May, have officially withdrawn from the tournament.
International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) secretary-general Abdul Halim Kader, in a statement today, announced that the Indonesian Sepaktakraw Association withdrew from the King's Cup to focus on the 21st National Sports Week (PONI) in the republic from Sept 8-20.
“However, the Philippine Sepaktakraw Association (PSTA) did not provide any reason for their withdrawal by the final registration deadline on July 14.
“The absence of these two Premier Division countries is mitigated by the participation of Laos and Cambodia, who did not compete in the ISTAF Sepaktakraw World Cup in Kuala Lumpur but will be present at the tournament in Korat,” he said.
Meanwhile, Halim said that the King's Cup, to be held from Sept 1-8, is set to make history with the largest participation ever, featuring 555 players—341 men and 214 women—across three divisions.
He added that 12 countries have confirmed their participation in the Premier Division, represented by 211 male and 167 female players at the prestigious sepaktakraw tournament.
“Division 1 will feature the ISTAF World Cup champions, led by Iran, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Australia, Bangladesh, and Oman. Meanwhile, Division 2 will include Iraq, Afghanistan, Argentina, Italy, Timor-Leste, and Poland.
“The team regu event is the highlight of the tournament, followed by five other events: inter-regu, quadrant (four players), mixed regu, mixed quadrant, and gelung,” he said.
He said that the regu event is a mandatory event that all countries in the Premier Division must participate in, while they can choose two more events from Groups A and B, and the gelung event from Group C.
He noted that the allocation of events for Premier Division countries ensures that the host country, Thailand, is not allowed to participate and dominate all men's and women's events.
“Thailand can only choose between the inter-regu or quadrant events in Group A and the mixed regu or mixed quadrant events in Group B,” he said.
-- BERNAMA
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