In 1935, during the Golden Jubilee Celebrations for King George V, the game of sepakraga was played on a badminton court, in the Malaysian State of Negeri Sembilan. Thedevelopment of the game was interupted by the war. In 1945 in Penang the net was again introduced and the popularity spread to surrounding areas and then countries. n1965 Malaysia hosted the South East Asian Peninsular games (SEAP) and sepak ragawas introduced. There were lengthy discussion between Malaysian and Singaporedelegates, on the one hand, and Laos and Thai delegates, on the other, with regard tothe official name of the sport. An agreement was subsequently arrived at and it wasdecided that the sport would be known as "Sepak Takraw". Sepak means KICK inMalay and Takraw means BALL in Thai word.
Almost every nation that played this game knew it by a different name. In Malaysia,Singapore and Brunei, it's called 'sepak raga', whereas in Thailand it's commonly knownas 'takraw'. The same game goes by the name of 'sipa' in the Philippines, 'da cau' inVietnam, 'rago' in Indonesia, and 'kator' in Laos. Since sepak takraw was played andenjoyed in several countries, there were a lot of inconsistencies in terms of how thegame was played and judged.
In 1960, representatives from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Lao and Thailand met inKuala Lumpur to standardise rules and regulations for the game. And after a long andheated debate, consensus was reached that the sport would henceforth be officiallycalled sepak takraw.
In 1990, sepak takraw was included at the Asian Games in Beijing. Women also got inon the action with the first women's championships in Thailand hosted in 1997. Today,more than 20 countries have national sepak takraw associations with representatives onthe board of the global governing body, the International Sepak Takraw Federation(ISTAF).