Source: ATOM SAMARENDRA
Imphal, June 06:
Manipur�s supremacy in sepak takraw remained unchallenged following its unblemished domination in the 16th senior nationals that ended yesterday at St.
Josephs� Senior Secondary school in Chandigarh.
Manipur have emerged overall champions in all editions of the senior sepak takraw nationals for men and women for the 15th consecutive year, grabbing all the four titles on offer in Chandigarh.
West Bengal won the overall champion in the inaugural edition held in 1983 at Nagpur.
Manipur came third position in the inaugural edition.
Having won the team event titles (both men and women) on June 4, Manipur made a clean sweep of the regu (set) events outclassing Delhi and Assam in men�s and women�s finals respectively yesterday.
Manipur men�s team defeated Delhi 21-18, 21-15 while women�s team thrashed Assam 21-13, 21-15 in the finals played yesterday.
The scissors-cut exhibited by the Manipur players proved too much for their opponents.
In the team events finals played on June 4,�Manipur women�s team defeated Assam by (2-0) in a deciding set (14-21, 21-8, 15-6) after winning first regu by 21-16, 21-12.� In the men�s team event Manipur outclassed Assam (2-0) by 21-11, 21-10 in the first regu and�21-9, 21-12 in the second regu.
Sepak takraw, invented by Malaysian royals about 500 years ago to challenge their Thai counterparts, comes from two languages.
Sepak is �Kick� in Malay, and Takraw is the �ball� in Thai.
In 1965, the game was unified into the present volleyball style with the addition of a net and the adoption of international rules.
The game was introduced in the Imphal National games in 1999.It was dropped at the next Games in Punjab for the unknown reasons, but reinstated again in the 32nd Games in Hyderabad.