Asian Sepaktakraw Federation President Abdul Halim Bin Kader Visits Taiwan, Strongly Affirms Taiwan as the Organizer of the Asian Sepaktakraw Youth (U19) Championship 2019
Asian Sepaktakraw Federation (ASTAF) President Abdul Halim Bin Kader, accompanied by Honorary President of the Chinese Taipei SepakTakraw Federation (CTSTF) Huang Chung-Jen and President Tsai Hong-Peng, paid a visit to Director-General Kao Chin-Hsung of the Sports Administration (SA). President Kader and Director-General Kao talked in a warm and enthusiastic atmosphere; both are keen to promote Sepaktakraw and hoping that more elite events could be held in Taiwan. President Kader stated that “Sepaktakraw was a demonstration event at the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. This time, Taiwan will host the Asian Sepaktakraw Youth (U19) Championship 2019. Thanks to the Taiwan government and the CTSTF for supporting the promotion of Sepaktakraw. I hope that Taiwan and the ASTAF can cooperate more closely in future.”
Sepaktakraw is extremely popular in Southeast Asian countries and is an official sport discipline at the Asian Games. In recent years, Taiwan has been implementing the New Southbound policy and it can be said that Sepaktakraw is one of the most important sports for interaction with New Southbound countries. The CTSTF held “The King of Sepaktakraw” event in 2018, attracting a large number of teams comprising of immigrant workers from Southeast Asia in Taiwan; Taiwan’s team won the event, showing Taiwan’s strong competitiveness in Sepaktakraw. Also, the CTSTF has been awarded the hosting right of the Asian Sepaktakraw Youth (U19) Championship, which will be held in August 2019. In this visit, President Kader thanked the SA for its support and also affirmed the efforts of the CTSTF for organizing Sepaktakraw events. The ASTAF will request all of its member countries to select outstanding teams to compete in Taiwan and bring high-level Sepaktakraw to viewers around the world through live broadcast.
After the meeting, President Kader stated that the ASTAF will fully support Taiwan’s organizing of the Asian Sepaktakraw Youth (U19) Championship 2019 to let the world see Taiwan’s ability to organize sports events. He hoped Taiwan can play a more active role in international Sepaktakraw affairs to raise its profile in the future.
