DES MOINES, Iowa — A man from Des Moines and his team have won gold for a sport they’ve been playing most of their lives, but still not widely known in the United States.
The sport is called sepak takraw: it's played mostly by many southeast Asian countries.
It requires many skills as player volley a ball over a net by kicking and spiking with just their feet.
The group representing the United States beat out several countries to take home the top prize.
Christ Moo is from Des Moines and is ethnically Karen. Moo has been playing for most of his life, starting out in Thailand.
He and his coach, Jeremy Mirken, say they are proud to have represented the USA.
“It's exciting for me to go and see a lot of good players over. It's one of my dreams to play with professionals. I want to become a professional player,” Moo said.
“It makes me happy for a player like Christ who's devoted a great deal of his life to learn this skill that he finally gets some recognition for his skillset and his accomplishments,” said Coach Mirken.
The players are all of southeast Asian decent, such as Hmong, Karen, Karenni and Burmese.
The come from several states, including Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska.
The team is made up of:
- Ker Cha (Minnesota)
- John Thao (Minnesota)
- Oo Reh (Nebraska)
- Yan Naing Soe (Indiana)
- Christ Moo (Iowa)
- Jim Thao (California)
- Gao Chang (Minnesota)
- Jeremy Mirken, coach (Texas)
Many are immigrants or refugees.
Moo told Local 5 he hopes to continue playing and work alongside Mirken to recruit more young people, especially girls, to get involved with the sport.