They are chalk and cheese — an all-action sport and a quiet board game — but both are part of the attraction at the South-East Asian Games in north-eastern Thailand.
Sepak takraw is being held in a stadium at the top of a shopping mall in front of raucous fans, while Go, a demonstration sport here, is taking place in a quiet university conference room away from cheering crowds.
Sepak takraw, popular in South-East Asia but little known elsewhere, is like a cross between football and volleyball, played across a net.
There is also a hoop version, where players aim to put the ball into a suspended net.
The game is traditionally played with a rattan ball, although the one being used here has a synthetic coating. Players are allowed to touch the ball with any part of their body except their arm.
Taking part in the event — teams of three playing across a net — is Mohamed Farhan (270 from Singapore.
”I like the acrobatic side of the sport and the key is that you must have good control of the ball,” he said.
Indonesia’s coach, Somkiat Sungsatitanon, from Thailand, took his side to the final of the men’s team event against Thailand but ended up with silver.
He has high hopes for the future of the game, adding: ”I’m hoping it will become an official Olympic sport.”
A world away from the raucous crowd at the sepak takraw is the Go competition, taking place in a hushed conference room.
Go, known as Weiqi in Chinese, is a strategic board game for two players, which is popular in East Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan.
The game, lasting a total of three hours here, starts with an empty board on which is printed a 19 by 19 grid. The players, using black and white ”stones”, take turns placing one stone on a vacant point.
The aim is to capture territory. Opponents’ stones can be surrounded and captured, in which case they are removed from the board as prisoners.
Competitors, including Singapore’s Cheng Mun Yi (17), are pushing Go.
”I hope it will become an official sport because it will raise its profile,” she said.
”If you say chess is a battle, Go is like an entire war. You try to gain as much territory as you can by surrounding territory or capturing your opponent’s stones,” she added.
Referee Surapon Intaratase, from Thailand, who also wants to see Go become an official sport at tournaments, described it as a game of patience.
”It makes you think carefully and you have to share and not be greedy. If you want it all at once you lose the game,” he said. ”You have to keep the balance because when you have too much territory you will have weakness in your formation.”
Different sports, different challenges, but Go and sepak takraw both have big plans for the future. — Sapa-AFP