Myanmar's Wai Khin Hnin on Sunday became the first Asian Games gold medallist in teqball, an acrobatic football-table tennis hybrid making its debut at this year's event in Japan.
Watched by Barcelona and Spain football legend Carles Puyol, Wai Khin Hnin beat Indonesia's Sumaya, who goes by one name, 2-1 in the final to capture the inaugural women's singles title.
Teqball was invented 14 years ago in a garage in Hungary and features players kicking a ball over a curved table, incorporating elements of the Southeast Asian sport sepak takraw.
The sport has grown quickly and featured at the 2023 European Games.
Wai Khin Hnin lost the first set of the final but came back to win 10-12, 12-8, 12-9 and claim gold.
"I'm delighted. I'm thankful to my head coach for believing in me and selecting me to play in the women's singles. I believed that I could do it," she said.
"My next goal is to win the gold medal for Myanmar at the 2027 SEA Games."
Thai coach Anussara Supakarnkamjorn, known as Mommam, moved from a successful sepak takraw career to coaching Myanmar's national teqball team, helping develop and strengthen the squad.
The competition has seen a diverse range of players vying to become the Asian Games' first teqball medallists.
The Philippines men's team featured three 14-year-olds, including Prince Agustin, who lost in the singles bronze-medal match.
Japan were represented by Takahiro Nodomi, who also works as a comedian.
"I played football until high school, gave up, started teqball in my late 30s, and made it to this big stage at 40," he said.
"If the message that 'even old guys can work hard' reached everyone, then I feel I was able to release some 'old guy power'."
Indonesia's Husni Uba represented his country in sepak takraw at four previous Asian Games.
"After I was done with the sepak takraw competition at the 2018 Asian Games, I didn't expect to be back again, especially for teqball," said the 44-year-old.//AFP
Main photo: Myanmar’s Khin Hnin Wai celebrates after beating Indonesia’s Sumaya 2-1 in the final to capture the inaugural women’s singles title.//Reuters
