As teqball continues its rapid growth with its debut at the Southeast Asian Games, the fledgling sport has drawn angry looks from similar sports in the region, who feel they are kicking their turf.
Invented in Hungary in 2012, teqball is a non-medal sport at this year’s SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, played over three days with the final on Monday. It is also scheduled for the European Games in Poland in June and July.
Teqball already has more than 140 national federations, leading its supporters to call it “the fastest growing sport in the world.”
Top international soccer teams, including Spain and Portugal, meet at teqball games during breaks, and stars like Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho have become ambassadors for the game.
It is played on a curved table and combines elements of soccer, volleyball and table tennis. Players – alone or in pairs – exchange shots without using their arms. The catch is that they can’t use the same body part twice in a row.
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“It is more developed in Europe, North America and South America than in Asia,” said Marton Keresztury from the umbrella organization Fiteq. “So this is where it starts slowly.”
On Sunday, the hotly contested Thailand men’s doubles team ruthlessly overcame the Cambodian side, their hosts’ insult compounded by Phakpong Dejaroen’s acrobatic winning shots that kept bouncing and slamming into home fans.
That put the Thais in Monday’s final against another Cambodian duo.
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In women’s doubles, Thai duo Suphawadi Wongkhamchan and Jutatip Kuntatong also beat their opponents en route to the final.
One reason Thailand excels at this sport is a pre-existing love of the game Sepak Takraw, a similar sport popular in the region and played on what more closely resembles a volleyball court.
Fahrish Khan of the Singapore men’s doubles team, who beat Brunei in their last group match but didn’t progress, noted the overlap.
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“We play football. So when you see a lot of them are sepak takraw players. It’s very different,” said the 27-year-old.
“The difference is they know how to kill,” he said, referring to the jumping winners that the Thai team rolled off with panache.
Keresztury said teqball will soon have more tournaments in Asia, in China, Thailand, “and maybe Indonesia.”
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He noted that the sport is in danger of clashing with Sepak Takraw.
“The players who are here are from (Sepak Takraw). Sometimes there are clashes with Sepak Takraw associations because they don’t want their players to play teqball. That’s why it’s developing slowly in Asia.”
“I think 80 percent of the players are from Sepak Takraw, from all nations.”
But he added, “It’s easy to get some skills from Sepak Takraw, but if you want all the skills, you need to play more teqball.”
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