Sepak Takraw: The Rattan-Ball Kicking Sport from the Malay World

Picture volleyball, then take away every player’s hands. What remains — the head-high bicycle-kick spike, the chest pass, the serve tossed high into the air and struck with the heel — is sepak takraw: one of the most acrobatic sports in the world, and one of the most closely tied to the identity of the Malay world.

Where does this rattan-ball kicking game come from?

Sepak takraw grew out of an old folk game known across the Malay world as sepak raga — literally kicking a ball woven from rattan. Its original form was not a competitive game across a net but a circle game: a group of players stand in a ring and try to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible using any part of the body except the hands.

Its exact origins are hazy and not the property of any single people. Similar games developed across the Malay world and Southeast Asia, and the basic terms for the game itself already come from two different languages:

Name	Meaning
sepak raga	kicking a ball with the body
sepak raga jaring	kicking a ball over a net with the body
sepak bola rotan	kicking a rattan ball
takraw (Thai)	rattan ball

The word “sepak” means “kick” in Malay, while “takraw” derives from the Thai term for a rattan ball. The combined name is itself already a regional compromise — a reflection of the fact that no single country can claim it as solely their own.

How did a folk game become a competitive sport?

The turning point came in 1960. Delegations from Malaya, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos and Thailand met in Kuala Lumpur to standardise the rules and formally adopt the term sepak takraw, replacing various local names. From then on, the traditional circle game developed into the volleyball-style net sport we know today, complete with a court, points and sets.

The ball too has changed with the times. The traditional ball was hand-woven from rattan — which is why it was once called “sepak bola rotan”; the approved modern competition ball is made from synthetic material, with 12 holes and 20 intersections according to the specification for international use.

How is sepak takraw played?

The core format is called regu — three players per team. A tekong stands at the back and serves; two front players (left and right) stand closer to the net to feed and spike. The aim is like volleyball: send the ball across the net so that the opponent fails to return it legally.

Element	Detail
Team size	3 players (one regu) — tekong + two front players
Body parts allowed	Feet, knees, chest and head — hands not allowed
Court dimensions	13.4 m x 6.1 m
Net height	1.52 m (men); 1.42 m (women)
Touches per side	Maximum three touches before returning the ball
Scoring	A set is won at 15 points with a lead of at least two points
Winning a match	Win two sets
Tie	If 14-14, play continues up to a maximum of 17 points

Points are awarded when the opposing side commits a fault — touching the ball with the hand, letting the ball drop onto its own court, or sending the ball out. It is the combination of the ban on using the hands and the three-touch limit that produces the sport’s most iconic move: the bicycle-kick spike, in which a player leaps, flips the body in mid-air, and kicks the ball downwards over the net with the sole of the foot raised above head height.

Who governs sepak takraw in Malaysia?

The sport’s governing body in Malaysia is PSM. On 10 September 2025, the Sports Commissioner of Malaysia approved an amendment changing its official name from Persatuan (Association) Sepaktakraw Malaysia to Persekutuan (Federation) Sepaktakraw Malaysia — a symbolic upgrade from “association” to “federation” intended to strengthen the sport’s administration and professionalism. The acronym PSM and its logo were retained.

At the international level, the sport is governed by the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF), established through the joint efforts of representatives from several Southeast Asian countries, with officials from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia playing important roles. PSM is one of its founding members. ISTAF standardises the rules and expands the sport’s global reach. At the regional level, sepak takraw has been contested continuously as a full medal sport since the 1965 SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur — the SEAP Games were later renamed the SEA Games in 1977. The sport also made its debut at the Asian Games in 1990 (Beijing).

What is Malaysia’s record on the world stage?

This is where the story becomes complex. Although sepak takraw is deeply rooted in the Malay world including Malaysia, Thailand has long dominated the elite championships — especially the King’s Cup, the most prestigious sepak takraw championship in the world, held in Thailand.

Malaysia’s last King’s Cup team regu title win came in 1988. By 2024, that wait had stretched to about 36 years. On 8 September 2024 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Malaysia once again lost 0-2 to hosts Thailand in the team regu event, prolonging the title drought.

Yet 2024 was not an entirely bleak year. A few months earlier, Malaysia recorded one of its biggest wins in decades, and at the King’s Cup itself Malaysia still took gold in the individual regu event:

Event	Date & venue	Result
Sepaktakraw World Cup — regu final	22 May 2024, Titiwangsa Stadium, KL	Malaysia 2-0 Thailand (15-8, 15-12)
Sepaktakraw World Cup — doubles	22 May 2024, KL	Malaysia won 2-0 (17-16, 15-13)
King’s Cup — regu event	2 September 2024, Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat)	Malaysia 2-0 India (gold)
King’s Cup — team regu event (final)	8 September 2024, Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat)	Malaysia 0-2 Thailand

That World Cup win at Titiwangsa Stadium — the line-up of Farhan Adam (feeder), Mohammad Syahir Mohd Rosdi (tekong) and Mohamad Azlan Alias (spiker) beating Thailand in front of home fans — ended Thailand’s dominance as world champions and avenged an earlier final defeat. It was also part of a “double success” on the same day, as Malaysia also won the doubles event.

This pattern sums up the standing of Malaysian sepak takraw today: a country whose heritage is rooted in the sport and which can beat anyone on a good day, but which is still chasing the consistency that lets Thailand hold on to the most coveted titles year after year.

Next steps

If you want to see the sport live, the national Sepak Takraw League organised by PSM is the easiest entry point, and sepak takraw events are among the liveliest at the SEA Games. To understand why the sport’s heritage is claimed by several countries at once, start with its very name — the combination of “sepak” (Malay) and “takraw” (Thai) is proof that the same game was raised by different cultures across Southeast Asia.