Singapore: While some Thai sports associations are being blamed for failing to live up to the expectations of their fans at the 2015 SEA Games, the Sport Shooting Association of Thailand is being lavished with praise that its excellent performance in Singapore truly deserves.
The team had left the Kingdom with a modest target of just four gold medals in the Games, but the 26-strong squad hit the bull’s eye time and again and returned home with a laudable haul of 12 gold medals, 10 more than their tally in Myanmar two years ago.
Hosts Singapore were the second most successful nation with five gold medals, followed by Vietnam (four), Malaysia (two) and the Philippines (one).
And this tale of success hits fairytale proportions when the internal turmoil in the national governing body for the sport is taken into account.
For four years, the association has been struggling with its management and is without a president at the moment.
The team manager was changed just a few days before the squad flew to Singapore following an intervention by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).
In short, barring the team officials, no one had expected the Thai shooters to deliver such impressive results at the Singapore Games.
Coach Totsaporn Riancharoen said: “We believed it was time for us to show our abilities despite being under pressure because of problems within the association.
“We have suffered a lot. Our players wanted to reclaim some dignity the association had lost owing to the internal conflict.”
The coach said apart from the players’ commitment to putting on a great show, the transparent selection criteria used also played a major role with 90 percent places on the squad going to young and talented shooters.
While training for the Games, the selected bunch received good support from the SAT, said Totsaporn, adding: “The support allowed the players to focus on training and produce good results at the Games.”
Totsaporn credited new SAT governor Sakol Wannapong for taking swift measures to solve many problems in time for the Games.
“We did not even know if we would be able to participate in the Games but he came and helped us,” Totsaporn.
Just a few weeks after being named SAT governor, Sakol appointed Somkiat Subsuantaeng as the team manager to replace Pattarawat Kongphun.
“I did it because the former manager could not get along with the athletes,” Sakol said.
“I wanted to solve the problem for the sake of the country and let the players prove themselves in the Games.”
Totsaporn said he had firm believe in his players’ capabilities but restricted the team’s target to only four gold medals to avoid putting them under pressure.
“Shooting needs concentration and a free of mind. With pressure, they could not have made it,” he said.
Totsaporn hoped that after the presidential election, expected to be held later this year, the association would be run effectively and it would be a big boost for the team vying for places in the 2016 Olympic Games.
So far, only Thanyaporn Prucksakorn has been assured of a spot in the Rio Games.
Team manager Somkiat, who is tipped to be one of the candidates for the office of president, is confident that with good foundation, the Thailand can dominate the sport in the region again.