ASTAF Confirms Use Of Ranking System For Asia Cup Sepaktakraw C'ships

KAJANG, Nov 17 (Bernama) -- The Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASTAF) confirmed that the ranking system will be used in the Asia Cup Sepaktakraw Championships at the Titiwangsa Stadium in Kuala Lumpur from May 9-18, 2025.

Its president, Datuk Abdul Halim Kader said the inaugural edition of the men's Asia Cup will also be a reference for the implementation of the ranking system at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan in 2026.

"During discussions with the Aichi-Nagoya Asiad Supreme Organising Committee recently, they did ask about the criteria for the ranking system. ASTAF will discuss its implementation for the Asian Games so that only countries with a certain standard can compete. We do not want a nation that has just started training to enter as it could lower the standard of sepak takraw.

"We have received the criteria for the ranking system from the committee headed by Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan. The Asia Cup is set to be a testing ground for the Thailand SEA Games in December 2025,” he told a media conference here today.

Abdul Halim, also the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) secretary-general, said the Asia Cup is the first championship to stipulate the confirmation of entries and name lists a few months before competition begins.

Previously, ISTAF allowed Malaysia to introduce the world ranking system for the sport during the 2024 Sepaktakraw World Cup held at the same venue in May.

Meanwhile, Mohd Sumali, the Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia (PSM) president, said he has sent out an official invitation to compete in the Asia Cup to 16 countries, with most of them comprising teams competing in the Premier Division of the Sepaktakraw World Cup.

He said that PSM had also invited Division 1 teams like Iran and Taiwan, who have shown impressive performances in the World Cup.

"If any of the countries can't compete due to whatever reasons, we will invite other nations who have a certain standard because we are targeting the participation of 16 teams. Four events will be contested, namely regu, team regu, doubles and quadrant.

"The regu event is compulsory while each team can only take part in either the doubles or quadrant events. We are holding the quadrant event because it is contested in the SEA Games and Thai King's Cup while the doubles event is not contested,” he said.

-- BERNAMA