The International Sepaktakraw Federation, commonly known as ISTAF, is the internationalgoverning body for the sport of sepaktakraw. Its current President is Major General Dr. Charouck Arirachakaran and was formed in 1988. Its main goal currently is to spread Sepaktakraw into 75 different countries and ultimately make it an Olympic sport. To secure the goal, 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. Sepaktakraw is a sport which originated from Southeast Asia. It is played similarly to volleyball but players use their feet, knee, chest and head to carry a rattan ball over the net. It is a spectator sport that contains elements of volleyball, football, martial arts and gymnastics.
Key office-holders
President: MG Dr. Charouck Arirachakaran Secretary General: Dato Abdul Halim Bin Kader, BBM
Competition
ISTAF is responsible for Sepaktakraw's major international tournaments, notably the ISTAF SuperSeries and ISTAF World Championship. Sepaktakraw is also a medal sport since 1990 in the Asian Games and has been an ever-present in the SEA Games from 1967 onwards.
The first ever ISTAF World Cup is held in Malaysia during July 2011. The winner for the 1st ISTAF World Cup is Thailand and the runner-up is Malaysia. The winner for the 1st ISTAF World Cup is Thailand and the runner-up is Vietnam.
ISTAF SuperSeries (ISS)
The ISTAF SuperSeries is an elite international tournament for the sport of Sepaktakraw. Its inaugural tournament was held in Bangkok, Thailand during 8–11 September 2011. The competition is held in a grand prix format whereby national teams compete in a series of events during a season. Their performance will then be cumulated to determine the overall winner for the season. Each event will have preliminary group stages, before moving on to the knock out rounds.
The first ever season of ISTAF SuperSeries is held over 2011/2012. The first tournament was held in Bangkok, Thailand, followed by Palembang, Indonesia and then Singapore. The finals of ISS 2011/2012 sees Thailand being crowned the overall champion for both men and women in front of their home crowd in Bangkok.
National Association
The ISTAF currently has 31 national associations under its membership.
