T

he International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) says it wants to bring the Malay-Thai Peninsula native sport to Olympic Games within eight to 12 years.

Sepak takraw or kick volleyball resembles volleyball, except that the ball is made from rattan and players may only use their feet, knees, chest and head to touch the ball.

To reach their Olympic dream, the federation will have to work harder in order to fulfill the requirements of the International Olympic Council: Any featured sport must be popularly played in at least 75 countries around the globe.

“We will introduce sepak takraw in African and Arabian countries in order to meet the IOC requirement,” ISTAF secretary-general Datuk Abdul Halim bin Kader told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an International Sepak Takraw Super Series tournament in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Saturday.

As part of the effort to popularize the sport in the Middle East, Halim said that sepak takraw would be featured at the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2013 in Indonesia.

Moreover, the federation is still discussing possible changes in relation to the hardness of the ball, and is mulling increasing the number of players allowed to play on a team, in order to make the game more approachable.

“We are considering increasing the number of players on a team [from three] to five, or creating another event, which is a team consisting of two players — or called doubles. We need to carry on with our study to reach our goal,” Halim said.

Halim, who is president of the Asian Sepak Takraw Federation, said that he was optimistic that the federation would make the sport popular within the 8–12 year period as long as all parties within the ISTAF worked well together, and were backed with strong funding.

“I really expect to have no conflict in the organization because such things would divide the members. The media will also play an important part in our effort; we hope the media will support our work and maintain the good image of it so we can reach the Olympics,” the Singaporean said.

The Indonesian Olympic Committee has also supported the future of sepak takraw on the world stage by proposing that the sport be held as an exhibition sport at the London Olympics.

“We’ve doing our best to register sepak takraw in London’s exhibition sport within the last three months time,” said Indonesian Sepak Takraw Association (PERSETASI) chief Basri Sehabi.

The London Olympic Games is scheduled to take place from July 27 to Aug. 12.

The development of sepak takraw in European countries — such as in Britain, France and Switzerland — and the US has been a work in progress over the past few years.

Sepak takraw entered the United States 20 years ago and since then has been showing signs of significant development, particularly over the past three years.

Asian immigrants, including Buddhist monks from Lao and Thailand, have been helping to make sepak takraw more popular in the US, including by hosting a tournament every September.

American Toni Ontam, a player on the US sepak takraw team, said that it would be a dream comes true should the sport be played at the Olympics.

“The idea to put semifinals and final rounds [in the ISTAF super series] on air is a good step to make the sport more popular,” said the Thai-native, who has been living in the US for 10 years.