New sports don’t appear on the scene very often, so sports fans will be interested to see that the Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in 2023 will have some games that they might be unfamiliar with. The event will be held in Cambodia for the first time and teqball is among the sports listed, so what is it and can we expect to see it take off around the globe soon?
The Full Story on Teqball
This sport is going to be played as a demonstration event at the SEA Games in 2023, meaning that no medals are up for grabs for the players who take part in it. However, it will be introduced on a competitive level at events such as the 2023 Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which is also to be held next year. In addition, we’ll see it debut at the European Games in Kraków-Małopolska in 2023.
This sport is played on a table that looks similar to those used for table tennis, but it’s curved at either end. The opposing teams can be made up of one or two players on either side of the table. They play with a normal-sized football and need to return the ball to the other side of the table with a maximum of three touches.
Each set ends when one of the teams gets to 12 points, and the overall game is settled on a best-of-three-sets basis. The lack of overly complicated rules is one of the factors that has helped the sport of teqball to grow, as anyone can understand it fairly easily after watching the game for just a few minutes.
Other Games to Look Out for at SEA Games
The event to be held in Phnom Penh in May next year has some interesting sports that are sure to catch the eye of a Western viewer. For example, Xiangqi is a table game also known as Chinese chess, while Ok Chakktrong is similar-looking and is sometimes called Khmer chess.
Meanwhile, Pencak silat is a type of martial art that involves full-body fighting and a range of moves that run from strikes to throws and grapples. Also to be played in Cambodia, Sepak takraw is hugely popular over the Asian continent although its name changes from one country to another. It looks a lot like volleyball, but players can use various parts of their bodies to put the rattan ball over the net.
In fact, there will be 40 sports played at this major event, including teqball. It’s worth noting that some of the countries are concerned that they don’t have athletes who have specialized in some of the newer sports or those that aren’t particularly widely played by their athletes.
The Philippine Olympic Committee has decided to field competitors in all of the events, even if they need to shift some of their athletes to sports that they aren’t experts in. This can be seen in examples such as fin swimming and kun bokator, with over 40 medals available between them but Filipino athletes need to adapt to these sports.
The popularity of certain sports in the Philippines should help them to compete more effectively. If we look at this list of the best sports betting sites in the Philippines we can see sports like basketball and football are among the most popular. This type of sports betting site lets Filipinos use their debit cards or online wallets to place wagers on the PBA, the EPL, and other big leagues. Teqball and several of the other sports from the SEA Games aren’t yet listed on sites like bet365, so it’s easy to see which sports aren’t particularly common here.
What’s the Future of Teqball?
The fact that it’s going to be included in some major upcoming events is sure to raise the profile of teqball. In fact, it’s been reported that the International Federation of Teqball (FITEQ) has already set its sights on their sport featuring in the Olympic Games before too long. Its inclusion in the 2023 event in Cambodia gives sports fans a chance to check it out and decide whether to add it to their current list of favorite sports.
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