The debut season of the ISTAF SuperSeries commenced on 8 September 2011 to 1 July 2012 with 4 SuperSeries tournaments. The ISTAF SuperSeries is an international tournament by the International Sepaktakraw Federation (ISTAF) to bring the sport of Sepaktakraw to the international audience.
The first SuperSeries of the season was held in Bangkok, Thailand, followed by Palembang, Indonesia, and Singapore before finishing back in Bangkok.
The overall winner of the first ISTAF SuperSeries season for men and women is Thailand. Both teams from Thailand swept through all the gold medals in the individual ISTAF SuperSeries tournament. The battle for second-place is more interesting for both the men and women's competition. The ISTAF's Super Series men's editions saw Malaysia and Indonesia constantly fighting for the runner up spot, both coming in at second place twice. The same situation plays out in the women's edition as well, with South Korea and Vietnam achieving the runner-up spot twice in the season.
Tournament Summary
Series details
Medals Tally
ISS Series 1 Thailand
The first series of ISS 2011–12 was held in Fashion Island, Bangkok in Thailand from 8 September 2011 to 11 September 2011. This edition marks a first by ISTAF to create an elite annual tournament to showcase the sport. The event witnessed the participation of 18 international teams, 58 male and 39 women players. The longest match in this ISS occurred in Indonesia's victory over Malaysia (3-2) in the men's quarter-finals match, spanning a length of 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Drawing from the support of their home crowd in Bangkok, the Thailand men's national men team joined from the playoff stage and showed their class by winning Singapore in quarter-finals, Japan in semi-finals as well as Indonesia in the final round, in straight sets to clinch the champion's spot. Losing finalist – Indonesia came in second while South Korea defeated Japan to secure the men's bronze medal. Meanwhile, the host country's female counterparts defeated semi-finalist Vietnam and the finalist South Korea in straight sets. Vietnam rallied from its semi-final defeat to eventual champion, Thailand, and secure third at the expense of Japan. Japan did come close to upsetting them, however, losing the second set and third set by close margins.
The winner of the men's event in this first-ever series is Thailand, the runner-up is Indonesia and the second runner-up is South Korea, while the winner of the women's event also is Thailand, the runner-up is South Korea and the second runner-up is Vietnam.
Team Allocation
The first round, or group stage, saw 11 men's teams divided into 4 groups of 3. Each group featured a round-robin of games, while in the group stage of women's event, saw only 7 teams which divided into 2 groups. In both categories, each team playing against every other team in their group once, the group stage result is based on points accumulated, the top 2 teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals or playoff stage. The host nation also automatically advances to the playoff stage.
Participating Countries
Men's results
Group A (Men)
Group B (Men)
Group C (Men)
Group D (Men)
Knock-out Rounds (Men)
5th-8th Ranking
9th-12th Ranking
Women's Results
Group A (Women)
Group B (Women)
Knock-out Rounds (Women)
5th-8th Ranking
ISS Series 2 Indonesia
The second series of the 2011–12 ISS was held in Palembang Sport and Convention Center, Palembang in Indonesia from 23 February 2012 to 26 February 2012. This edition saw the first appearance of Chinese Taipei into the men's tournament as well as Indonesia's woman national team. However, the second edition had a reduction from 12 to 9 teams in the men's tournament and 7 to 6 teams for the women's. Thailand men's national team continued its winning streak to 8 matches, not dropping any of the 18 sets played during the process. They eventually won the ISS Series 2 Indonesia Champion by overcoming Malaysia, who had to settle for silver. The host country, Indonesia was placed third.
The Indonesian's women team, however, did not have the same fortune as their male counterpart, falling to third-placed Vietnam in the women's tournament. The final of the women's championship also saw favorites Thailand suffer a scare in the first set, losing 11-15 to the South Koreans. After a nerve-wracking second set which was deuce at 15 to 15, Thailand eventually secures victory by winning it 17-15 and went on to win two more sets to be gold medallist at this series.