21-05-2025
Khelo India Beach Games: After impressing at Asiad, Khushbu, Chaoba hope for Sepak Takraw's brighter future
'Inlog ka serve toh badhiyan hai! (The serves of these women are really nice). '
A group of onlookers commended the way a women's Sepak Takraw team was serving as compared to a men's team – both matches taking place on adjacent courts at the Khelo India Beach Games on Tuesday – before walking along the pathway by Ghoghla beach in Diu.
Amidst all the women Sepak Takraw players at the Games, two athletes had the added distinction of winning bronze at the Asian Games 2022: Oinam Chaoba Devi and Khushbu.
'The beach makes it difficult to have a footing. Running becomes hard as the foot keeps going into the sand [laughs],' Chaoba told Sportstar shortly after one of her matches.
'There's a lot of hard work that goes into playing on the beach. Receiving the ball becomes uncomfortable,' Khushbu chimed in later in the evening.
She also added how they can easily fight on the usual indoor and outdoor courts, ones they are used to, which she showed in China's Hangzhou in 2023 along with Chaoba and others.
Life before and after Asian Games history
Chaoba and Khushbu were members of the Regu team that won a historic bronze at the 2022 Asian Games – a first medal for the Indian women in the sport at the Asiad.
The lives of both of them changed after winning the medal.
''What will she get by playing; for how long will she play?' were what people used to tell me. In 2007, I started training in the SAI (Sports Authority of India) centre in Manipur. We have a lot of facilities there. A lot has changed since.
The Hangzhou Games were my third Asiad, and the first where I won a medal. Now, the people of my village speak a different language, encouraging me and telling me to continue playing. They surprise me at my home with garlands as well,' Chaoba, who began playing the sport in 2004, said.
Oinam Chaoba Devi in action during a Sepak takraw match at the Khelo India Beach Games 2025 at Ghoghla Beach. | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap/ The Hindu
In Khushbu's case, the medal meant more people from her home State in Uttar Pradesh (UP) were made aware of the sport called Sepak Takraw.
'After I won the medal, people in UP got to know what the sport is. Very few people know about it. Many children don't know about it. I was called to different places for interviews as well.'
However, this moment in India's Asian Games history wouldn't have happened if both of these players had stuck to their first sport of choice.
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Hailing from a place far from Manipur's capital, Chaoba was interested in athletics. But people from her village didn't partake. Rather, they couldn't. The closest place with the facilities for athletics was Khuman Lampak in Imphal, which was very far from her home.
A club located 15 minutes from her home is where she watched her seniors play the game. Proximity thus played a key role in Chaoba's tryst with Sepak Takraw.
For school-going Khushbu, it was about being different.
'I initially thought of trying out hockey. But then I switched to this. At first, I couldn't grasp anything, but I stuck with my decision. I wanted to play a unique sport. It has given me a lot, mere ragg ragg mai bas gaya hai (It has become a part of me). Even when I tried to leave it, I couldn't.'
A secure present, a hope for the future
Having been around for more than two decades, Chaoba has seen the ups and downs of Sepak Takraw in India.
The SuperSeries tournament in 2013 in New Delhi was the first international Sepak Takraw event in India in which Chaoba took part. This year's World Cup in Bihar was her second such tournament, where she even won two medals.
'In Bihar, the arrangement was quite nice. I had lots of fun there.' A ligament tear – a result of overexertion which began much before the Asian Games – didn't allow Khushbu to be a part of the home World Cup.
Sepak Takraw is one of the several disciplines being played at the Khelo India Beach Games in Dui. | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap/ The Hindu
Nevertheless, the sport has helped them sort out their lives. After becoming an athlete under SAI, Chaoba clinched a gold medal at the 2011 National Games, which helped her get a job at the sports department of Manipur.
This has provided her with a sense of security.
Khushbu, now 29, also has a job at the paramilitary force because of the sport.
Khushbu lauded the Sepak Takraw Federation of India's efforts to popularise the sport and hoped these would soon translate into it becoming a part of the Olympics.
While she thought that the Indian women's team had massively improved in quality since the Asian Games bronze, Chaoba felt that more could be done to guide the upcoming generations.
'There's a need to create an academy from which players for the national teams can be developed. We have camps in Thailand, and we see their academies which are really good. We should have longer camps where players from all parts of the country, juniors or otherwise, come together to train for international tournaments.'
