Sepak Takraw, a unique sport, also known as kick volleyball, is a team sport, played with a ball made of rattan or synthetic plastic, between two teams of two to four players on a court, resembling a badminton court. Unlike volleyball, in Sepak Takraw, players are not allowed to use their hands to play with the ball and are required to use their feet, head, knees and chest to volley the ball. An emerging sport in Pakistan, Sarfaraz Rehman and Deedar Rani Durdana Khan represented Pakistan at the King’s Cup Sepak Takraw World Championship in Thailand.

Sarfaraz Rehman
31-year-old Sarfaraz Rehman from Karachi won a bronze medal for Pakistan at the 35th King’s Cup Sepak Takraw World Championship in Thailand, where he was awarded the highest scorer. He has represented Pakistan on various international platforms, including Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia, the 31st King’s Cup Sepak Takraw 2016 and the 34th King’s Cup Sepak Takraw 2019.

Sarfaraz also received a gold medal in National Beach Volleyball in 2019 stemming from his time representing Karachi University at the HEC Volleyball Championship in 2011, 2013 and 2016. He was also a gold medallist in Sepak Takraw at the 17th Sindh Games in 2018 and was Awarded Excellence in Sports 2017-2018 by the Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board for Pakistan.

A Physical Education teacher at The City School, Sarfaraz serves as a volleyball coach with the Institute of Business Management where he has been training teams and preparing for national competitions. Since 2017, he has been a trainer for men and women’s volleyball for the National Games.

Sarfaraz carries a passion for enhancing his skills. He has done multiple online and on-site skills development courses, including the Online Volleyball Level One course from Italy in 2022, Throwball International Level One course in Karachi in 2018 and Football D-Certification  in 2018.

Deedar Rani Durdana Khan
Hailing from Damas, Ghizer, Deedar Rani Durdana Khan, 25, is the first Sepak Takraw female player from Gilgit-Baltistan to represent the Pakistan women’s team at the King’s Cup Sepak Takraw World Championship held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Deedar has been a sports enthusiast since childhood. She participated in events conducted by Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board in various games, including throwball, cricket, volleyball and athletics. In 2016, she represented Gilgit-Baltistan in the 400m race in Josh Games held in Islamabad.

Along with her studies, Deedar works as a sports trainer at True Care Academy in Karachi. She was coaching her team in a Kho-Kho tournament when she first heard about the unique sport, Sepak Takraw. The name attracted her and she started practising. Later, in the trials, she was selected for the 15-member Pakistan team for King’s Cup Sepak Takraw World Championship.