Wuttichai Masuk saved the face of the Thailand Boxing Association (TBA) at the Asian Games last year when he was the country's only gold medallist in the sport.
It was a huge relief for Pichai Junhavachira who will seek another term as TBA president in mid-year. But the TBA will face a much tougher task this year when its boxers begin their 2016 Olympic qualifying at the World Championships in Doha in October.
According to the International [Amateur] Boxing Association (Aiba), there will be 286 fighters — 250 men in 10 weight classes and 36 women in three divisions — at the Rio Games.
In the men's category, there will be 240 spots in the qualifying events, five berths for hosts Brazil and five invites. On the women's side, there will be 32 berths in the qualifying events, one for the host country and three invites. It will be the toughest Olympic qualifying for Thailand.
Boxers can qualify for the Olympics through three channels — the Aiba Open Boxing (AOB), Aiba Pro Boxing (APB) and World Series of Boxing (WSB).
Aiba says the APB and WSB are a significant step forward to realising the mission set in 2007 which was for Aiba to govern the sport of boxing in all its forms.
Thai officials admit their boxers have no chances of qualifying for the Olympics through the APB and WSB competitions.
"The new Olympic qualifying system is really tough for us," said TBA technical chief Somyot Chulasen.
"We do not have enough boxers to join the APB and WSB events which offer most of the berths for the Olympics. In the end, we will be really happy if we have three boxers at the 2016 Olympics."
The AOB is the only channel for Thailand to win Olympic spots. Its events are the World Championships (2015), continental qualifying (2016) and world qualifying (2016).
The first Olympic qualifying for Thai boxers is this year's World Championships. But Somyot admits it is not likely that Thailand will get an Olympic spot at the World Championships. There are only 23 Olympic places in the Doha tournament compared to 70 at the previous tournament for the 2012 Olympics.
At the World Championships, the top three fighters from five weight categories (56kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg and 75kg), the finalists from three divisions (49kg, 52kg and 81kg), and the champions from two divisions (91kg and over 91kg) will qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Somyot pins his hopes on the AOB continental qualifying 2016, Asia/Oceania zone where up to 30 Olympic spots are up for grabs and the AOB world qualifying 2016, the last qualifying event for the 2016 Games. Both tournaments will take place early next year.
Apart from the tough task in the ring, Somyot admits that without a Thai official at Aiba, Thai boxers' jobs are much more difficult.
Also, the TBA does not have a pool of fine boxers and is trying to look for Muay Thai fighters for the national team through a special project, he said.
He expects to get six new national fighters who will be trained for the King's Cup, SEA Games, Asian Championships and World Championships.
"Muay Thai fighters are usually strong and powerful physically," Somyot said.
"This may suit the amateur boxing scoring system. They will also help put pressure on the current national boxers who have represented the country for a long time and need competition in the team."
Somyot said that these new fighters will have to sign a contract with the association and fight for Thailand at least until the last Olympic qualifying event.
"Anyone who wins an Olympic berth will get two million baht in bonus. This will encourage them to fight for the country," he said.
As for the team's preparations, Somyot said there has not yet been a clear-cut plan from the TBA.
"I will try to send boxers to compete in as many international events as possible," he said.
"It will be an extremely tough test for us to get Olympic spots. If we win three spots, I will be a happy man."