Bernama reports that ISTAF secretary general Abdul Halim Kader says the idea to introduce the traditional sports came about due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He will also discuss the idea with the International Esports Federation (IESF) and the Global Esports Federation (GEF).
On one hand, the idea isn’t a bad one. But on the other, for something to be a esport, there needs to be a video game for it first. And as far as we’re aware, there isn’t one for sepak takraw. At least, not one that has multiplayer support. The only one that we know of is a mobile game called Roll Spike Sepak Takraw. It’s made by a Malaysian dev team called Mediasoft Entertainment. So for ISTAF’s wish to happen, there would need to be a game for that first. But it remains to be seen if any of the usual suspects among sports games publishers will be picking this up. There’s also the issue of sepak takraw’s popularity as a sport, which would be the primary draw for publishers to make a game about it to begin with. (Source: Bernama. Image: The Star, Google Play)
