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2005 CENTENNIAL CUP SEPAK TAKRAW CHAMPIONSHIPS
Regina, SK, August 1 – 6, 2005
(click
here to view more pictures)
A tremendous “thank you” goes out to the Department
of Canadian Heritage for their support through the Saskatchewan Centennial
Grant that enabled Takraw Canada to host this very exciting event.
During the first three days, 8 Junior (under 21) Men’s and Women’s
regus from ON & SK competed in a round robin style tournament, along with
exhibition matches twice a day between Senior Men’s regus from Canada
and Japan! Senior Men’s regus competed, as did International guest teams
from USA and Japan, in another round robin tournament during the last three
days. This added a great deal of excitement and inspiration to the event, and
it gave the youth teams new goals to work towards as they observed live, close-up
matches played at a more advanced level. There were also cultural performances
each night to celebrate the diversity of Saskatchewan and Canada as a whole.
A Lao-Thai food vendor was also set up throughout the event offering tantalizing
delicacies.
Junior Men: It was Regina’s Decepticons that won Gold in a very exciting
tie-break final match against Ontario’s St. Angela Merici, who took silver
and a 2nd Regina regu, TKO from the Rainbow Youth Centre, went home with bronze.
What made the final so exciting was that the Decepticons (18 & 19 year olds)
sailed through the round robin without losing even a single set and were heavy
favorites going into the final. St. Angela Merici, though talented 13 and 14
year olds, were definite underdogs. The Decepticons, after winning the first
set 21-17, started having major problems with consistency and lost the 2nd set
11-21 … Ontario’s regu also having made a wise substitution at the
end of the 1st set. In the tie break set the Decepticons came out strong early,
but then again started having problems with consistency and Ontario was catching
up fast. However, with the score 13-14, it was a bad serve by St. Angela Merici
that sealed their fate, the Decepticons then winning 15-13. ‘Hats off’
to the young Ontario regu that came so close to creating a huge upset!
Junior Women: In the Junior Women’s division, it was the semi-final between
Ontario’s Notre Dame and Regina’s Crouching Dragon Spiking Tiger
that proved to be the nail biter. After losing the first very close set 18-21,
Ontario’s girls came back extremely strong to win the 2nd set handily
21-8 and force the tie break. It looked like they were on top of their game,
but they seemed to break under the pressure quickly in the tie break, losing
3-21, and settling for the bronze after being marginal favorites going into
the finals. A great group with lots of spirit, we hope to see the Ontario regus
back in 2006! Crouching Dragon Spiking Tiger then played a 2nd Regina regu,
the Pink Panthers, in the final. It wasn’t nearly as inspiring of a match
as the semi-final, with the Pink Panthers taking gold after winning two straight
sets 21-11 and 21-17.
Senior Men (Canadian) & International Men: In the Senior Men’s division,
Saskatchewan & Manitoba were represented (after ON dropped out) with 5 regus.
Most of the matches were quite even, making it an exciting tournament …
but not without incidents. One of Saskatoon Lightning’s players went down
with a serious leg injury and could not continue to play, which weakened their
chances in the finals, losing to Regina Riot, who took bronze. Winnipeg 1 went
home with silver and Saskatoon Legends earned gold after the decisive 21-16,
21-12 victory over Winnipeg in the final.
International Men: Japan and USA played all the Canadian regus for fun, just
exhibition games for them, but they also played against each other in a best
of 5 match series to decide who would prevail in the international division.
Due to the acrobatics of the spiking & blocking and the precision of the
serving & setting, these matches were definitely huge crowd pleasers! It
was USA that dominated, however, winning the series in 3 straight matches.
The only real disappointment in the whole event was the lower number of spectators
that turned out compared to what was estimated there might be. The facility,
though perfect for the event, was in a parking lot away from all the other Buffalo
Days attractions, so people had to go out of their way to check it out …
and as we discovered, most people had had enough by the time they got through
the other attractions to make the effort to go out of their way and see Sepak
Takraw. Still, between the tournament and the outdoor events going on in Centennial
Park, another area of the Exhibition Grounds, there were an estimated 4200 people
who saw the sport. Altogether 15 regus took part in the tournaments, representing
3 Canadian provinces and 3 countries.
Of course an event like this does not take place without much work, preparation,
volunteers and sponsorship support. THANK YOU TO OUR 100 PLUS VOLUNTEERS AND
ENTERTAINERS.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS & PARTNERSHIPS FOR YOU IN-KIND AND CASH SUPPORT:
Canadian Heritage, City
of Regina, Regina Exhibition Park, ASEC International, Allied
Printers & Promotions, Global
TV, Saturn, Engelheim
Charter, SaskTel, Rawlco
Radio, Long & McQuade, Bazaar
& Novelty, Wayne’s Water Shop, Dairy Queen, Domino’s
Pizza, Lindy’s Diner & Lighthouse
to all Nations Church.
20TH KING’S CUP SEPAK TAKRAW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Bangkok, Thailand, December 14 – 19, 2005
(click
here to view more pictures)
For Canada, it really was a disappointment when the King’s Cup date was
announced to be in December … December is a very difficult time to try
to travel with a team due to high season air fares and university final exams
(impossible for players who are university students to participate). So the
Junior Men’s team that won gold in Canada’s Centennial Cup (university
students) and had hoped to compete at the King’s Cup, will now have more
time for training and preparation before competing in their first international
tournament.
Canada did have a presence at the King’s Cup, however, as Rick Engel,
STAC President, attended the event. He was happy to meet with many of the other
leaders in the sport from the almost 20 countries that attended, and promoted
the upcoming 2006 Canadian Open Sepak Takraw Championships. Potential future
Sepak Takraw exchanges with China was also discussed as a possibility, among
other interesting ideas with various countries. Rick also took copies of his
book “Takraw 101” and the instructional DVD “Sepak Takraw
– Just For Kicks” to promote to the newer countries in the sport,
which of course were received with interest and enthusiasm among a few of the
countries who were looking for resources on the sport.
As for the King’s Cup tournament itself, with some 20 countries involved,
competing in the Sepak Takraw Team Event, Doubles Takraw and Hoop Takraw for
both men and women, involving over 400 players, coaches and officials, the host
Takraw Association of Thailand certainly had a huge undertaking to manage …
‘hats off’ to the organizing committee for a job well done.
“TAKRAW, CULTURE, FOOD & BREAK DANCING”
Regina, SK, May – August, 2005
(click
here to view more pictures)
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The “2005 Summer Sepak Takraw Program” organized and carried out
by ASEC International mixed the sport with cultural performances, ethnic food
and break dancing from May to August at both stand alone planned activities
and larger festival events in highly visible locations with thousands of spectators.
It all added up to raising a tremendous amount of awareness of Asian Cultures
and Sepak Takraw, which is still a very new sport to most people. The locations
and venues of the program ran in conjunction with:
• Four practices a week, happening at Rainbow Youth Centre, the University
of Regina, Kinsman North Park, Victoria Park and Candy Cane Park;
• Three Tournaments throughout the summer, happening during Canada Day
(July 1), Buffalo Days (August 2-7, an international event co-hosted with Takraw
Canada) and the Regina Dragon Boat Festival (September 3);
• Thirteen registered and paid members;
• And public demonstrations at MOSAIC (June 2-4), National Aboriginal
Day (June 21), Canada Games (August 11-19), Pile O’ Bones Sunday and a
Regina Roughrider pre-game show.
Overall, 1,600 people from all across the country (and even overseas) actively
participated in Sepak Takraw in Saskatchewan through all of the events that
were included in the summer program. We can truly say that people did “Come
Get Their Kicks”. Another estimated 26,200 people were able to watch Sepak
Takraw being played, which is a huge amount of public exposure for the new sport.
Thousands of people were also able to see, and in some cases take part, in the
variety cultural performances presented. ASEC International is certainly fulfilling
its mission to “Build Bridges of Understanding Between Cultures Through
Asian Sport, Education and the Arts”. Many thanks to Sepak Takraw Director,
Rick Engel, and Summer Program Coordinator, Grant Garner, and all the volunteers
who all worked hard to make the program a success!
Many thanks also to the sponsors who made the program possible, in particular:
The Centennial Student Employment Program, the Community Initiatives Fund and
SaskTel for their financial support that made the summer program possible! Rawlco
Radio was our official media sponsor and did a superb job of announcements regarding
the program! Long & McQuade helped us out with providing sound equipment
for tournaments & break dance competitions. We are also very thankful to
many community businesses that donated items for prizes to give out at events
and tournaments, they are: the Saskatchewan Roughriders, SaskEnergy, SaskLotteries,
SGI, SaskCulture, U of R Bookstore, U of R Rams and Science-Sherwood Mall.
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