ISTAF meaning in Sports ?

Answer: What is International Sepaktakraw Federation mean?

The International Sepaktakraw Federation, commonly known as ISTAF, is the international governing body for the sport of Sepak takraw, which was formed in 1988 with five founding member countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore,Indonesia and Myanmar, officially based in Thailand and with its secretariat in Singapore. The current President is Major General Dr. Charouck Arirachakaran of Thailand. Its main goal currently is to spread Sepak takraw into 75 different countries and ultimately make it an Olympic sport by 2026. As of April 2020, the federation consists of about 50 member national associations, mostly in Asia-Oceania, 13 of which are on provisional status.

Under ISTAF guidance, Sepak takraw has become the official sport at the South-East Asian Games since 1965 and has uninterrupted medal status at the Asian Games since 1990. It was additionally introduced as a demonstration sport at the 2009 World Games in Chinese Taipei. The federation also launched its own international tournaments in 2011, namely ISTAF World Cup and ISTAF SuperSeries (ISS), in which Thailand has won the most medals for. However, to secure the goal for the Olympic Games, the federation will have to work harder in order to fulfill the requirements of the International Olympic Committee (IOC): Any featured sport must be popularly played in at least 75 countries around the globe, and to be recognised by IOC as well as categorized as ARISF membership, the federation must fulfil certain criteria which include implementing the World Anti-Doping Agency Code, Olympic Movement Code as well as having a minimum of 50 associated national federations from at least three continents.

Sepak takraw is a sport which originated from Southeast Asia. It is played similarly to volleyball but players use their feet, knee, chest and head to carry a rattan ball over the net. It is a spectator sport that contains elements of volleyball, football, martial arts and gymnastics.

reference nan