Thai officials have been satisfied with their athletes’ overall performance this year and now looking forward to a brighter future.
Boxer Wuttichai Masuk celebrates winning gold at the Asian Games.
Thailand won 12 gold medals at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, and were runaway overall winners at the Asian Beach Games in Phuket.
The men’s football team lifted the AFF Suzuki Cup trophy to end a 12-year-title drought, while the women’s side won the country’s first ever World Cup berth at the full international level.
Thailand also hosted a big international event with about 2,000 participants — the Association of National Olympic Committees (Anoc) meeting.
The participants included International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach of Germany and Anoc chief Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah of Kuwait, who is also president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
The women’s volleyball team finished third at the Asian Games.
Asian Games
With 12 gold medals, Thailand were sixth overall at the 17th Asian Games behind China (151), South Korea (79), Japan (47), Kazakhstan (28) and Iran (21).
They were also the best performers among Asean countries.
Thailand hoped to win 11 gold medals in Incheon to match their achievement at the previous Games in Guangzhou in 2010.
But Thailand made a very slow start and it took them several days to claim the country’s first gold medal thanks to Yannaphon Larpapharat’s fine performance in the men’s singles bowling.
Other champions in Incheon included boxer Wuttichai Masuk, tennis star Tamarine Tanasugarn and cyclist Amanda Carr.
Wuttichai saved the face of the Thailand Boxing Association (TBA) when he was the country’s only champion in the sport in Incheon.
His victory over South Korea’s Lim Hyun-Chul in the light-welterweight final came after a series of controversial decisions.
Thailand, as well as other countries, complained about biased judging, prompting TBA chief Pichai Chunhavajira to fly to Incheon to look after the team.
Indeed, some experts believed Wuttichai’s win was a surprise as he was deducted a point in the final against the home boxer.
Wuttichai was named the best male athlete of the year by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).
Tamarine, 37, finally won her first Asian Games gold medal when she partnered young star Luksika Kumkhum to win the women’s doubles title.
It was Tamarine’s last Asian Games and she won the best female athlete of the year from the SAT.
The women’s volleyball team hoped to go all the way but ended up with bronze.
Although they failed to win the biggest prize, winning bronze was not too bad as it was Thailand’s first ever Asian Games medal in indoor volleyball.
National volleyball coach Kiattipong Radchatakriengkai married Chinese legendary player Feng Kun in one of the biggest news in Thai and Chinese sporting circiles.
At the Asian Games, Thailand also won their first ever medals in golf, taking home one gold, one silver and two bronzes.
Benyapa Niphatsophon, Supamas Saengchan and Busabakorn Sukhaphan claimed the women’s team title.
Unfortunately, Thailand failed miserably in several sports including badminton and athletics.
Thai shuttlers were empty-handed while Thailand got only one bronze in athletics.
Asian Beach Games
The fourth edition of the biennial event in Phuket was a success for Thailand.
While the country was praised by participants for a well-organised tournament and its hospitality, Thai athletes comfortably won the overall title with 56 gold medals, 40 ahead of runners-up China.
Several venues attracted large crowds of local fans and foreign tourists.
With the success, Thai officials, including Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, believe the country can host the World Beach Games which will be launched in 2017.
Football achievement
Thailand beat Malaysia 4-3 on aggregate in the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup to lift the trophy for the first time in 12 years. They won 2-0 at home in the first leg, and came back from 3-0 down to lose 3-2 in the second leg in Kuala Lumpur.
Thailand are now the most successful national side in the Asean football championship, along with Singapore, with four titles.
Coach Kiatisak Senamuang became the first man to have won the Asean title both as a player and a coach. Thailand previously won the crown in 1996, 2000 and 2002 with Kiatisak a player in those three teams.
The team has received more than 40 million baht in rewards from the government and private companies.
Earlier in the year, the Thai women beat hosts Vietnam 2-1 in the fifth-place play-off at the Women’s Asian Cup to secure a place at the 2015 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
It will be Thailand’s first ever World Cup appearance at the senior level.
Cyclist Amanda Carr.
Satisfying results
SAT deputy governor Sakol Wannapong said Thailand’s performances at the Asian Games and Asian Beach Games were satisfying.
“We met our target at the Asian Games although we made a slow start,’’ he said. “The football team has won back faith from fans with the Suzuki Cup title.”
But he said he was surprised by the badminton team’s failure to win a single medal at the Asian Games.
Among the Thai shuttlers in Incheon was Ratchanok Intanon, the 2013 world champion who suffered an early exit at the Asian Games.
“I wonder why Ratchanok has suffered a slump in form since winning the world title,’’ Sakol said.
Thailand’s next multi-sports tournament will be the SEA Games to be held in June in Singapore.
Sakol said Thailand should have few problems in the defence of the overall title at the biennial event.
However, he said Thailand should focus on the Olympic qualifying rounds in several sports including football and volleyball.
Gen Yutthasak Sasiprabha, president of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, also said the Thais should retain the SEA Games crown.
But Thailand should look further to the 2016 Olympics and get at least 37 tickets to play in Rio de Janeiro _ the same number they received for the 2012 London Games.
“That should be a more important target,’’ he said.
Popular athletes
Swiss Thai footballer Charyl Chappuis is now the most popular athlete among Thai women after he helped the U23 side finish fourth at the Asian Games and the full national team win the Asean title.
With his good looks, Chappuis, 22, is the darling of Thai women.
An academic claimed Chappuis, who won the U17 Fifa World Cup with Switzerland, received a call-up to the Thai national team because of his looks rather than his skills.
The Suphanburi FC player silenced him by scoring a vital goal in each of the two final matches against Malaysia.
But Chappuis, who is in Switzerland for holiday, could soon become less popular as he said his girlfriend would come to stay with him in Thailand.
“Chappuis breaks Thai women’s hearts,’’ joked Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
“His wife [girlfriend] does not trust him because a lot of girls here like him so she will come to stay close to him in Thailand.”
US-based Amanda Carr came from nowhere to win the women’s BMX title at the Asian Games.
Amanda is popular here because she is cute and speaks Thailand’s northeastern dialect as her mother hails from Udon Thani.
Indeed, she is not fluent in standard Thai.
Amada received a hero’s welcome in her mother home province of Udon Thani and wants to represent Thailand at the 2016 Olympics.
Fighter Buakaw Banchamek.
Controversial stars
Muay Thai superstar Buakaw Banchamek (Por Pramuk) was again in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
After a three-round bout against Germany’s Enriko Kehl in a K-1 fight in Pattaya, Buakaw suddenly disappeared before the result was announced.
The fight ended in a draw and according to the rules, an extra round was needed to determine the winner.
With Buakaw’s absence, Kehl was declared the winner.
Buakaw later gave his side of the story on his Facebook page and a press conference but his explanations made the issue more confusing.
A few years ago, he went missing from Por Pramuk camp, where he had stayed since childhood.
When he returned, he complained that the camp treated him badly and forced him to fight when he was unfit.
But an agreement was reached after the camp agreed to give him a bigger share of his fight fees and other benefits.
Vanessa Mae became Thailand’s first ever female athlete at the Winter Olympics when she took part in a ski event in the Sochi Games.
But the renowned violinist, who was born in Singapore to Thai and Chinese parents and grew up in Britain, was last month handed a four-year ban by the International Ski Federation (FIS).
The FIS said the qualifying results of Vanessa, who competed in Sochi using her father surname Vanakorn, were manipulated.
The 36-year old is appealing the suspension with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).