South Korea beat Thailand's dominancein sepaktakraw by winning the men's circle final in the Asian Games here on Tuesday.

The host team scored 5,781 points for the gold and Thailand gotthe silver with 5,723.

Myanmar was third with 5,180 points.

Earlier Thailand won the gold medal of the women's circle by scoring 5,198 points.

Myanmar finished second at 4,431 points and South Korea was third at 3,883 points.

Sepaktakraw has been played in Southeast Asia since the 11th century. The modern game is played in two formats, both requiring extreme skill and acrobatic ability.

In the "regu" form, two teams of three play a high-speed version of volleyball, except that the players keep the coconut-sized wicker ball up predominately with their feet and heads and are not allowed to use their hands.

Teams of five play in circle sepaktakraw, where the object is to get the ball through a hoop high above their heads.

In the last Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand swept five out of the six golds in the sport.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2002)