Chanatip, Jiaranat and Pek-ek miss SEA Games

Chanatip, Jiaranat and Pek-ek miss SEA Games

World champion Chanatip Sonkham, Pen-ek Karaket and Jiaranat Nakhawirote will miss this year's SEA Games to compete at a more important tournament held at the same time.

The trio were initially selected to compete at the Dec 11-22 SEA Games in Myanmar but have been forced to withdraw from the biennial event after the schedule of the WTF World Grand Prix in England was released.

The World Grand Prix, to be held in Manchester from Dec 13-15, is important because it offers more ranking points than the SEA Games in races for places at the 2016 Olympics.

According to Preecha Tortrakul of the Taekwondo Association of Thailand, the Olympic qualifying process has been changed with the top-six players in the world Olympic rankings in each weight class earning automatic spots at the Rio Games.

"Each WTF World GP winner earns 40 ranking points while a champion at the SEA Games gets only 10 points," Preecha said. "We want our players to get as many ranking points as possible."

Without the trio, the 20-strong Thai squad are expected to win only four or five gold medals in Myanmar where 21 golds are at stake.

Hosts Myanmar are expected to sweep all five gold medals in poomsae (dance) and also are contenders in the 16 gold medal kyorugi (fighting) event.

Thailand will be led by Rangsiya Nisaysom, Sarita Pongsri, Worapong Pongpanich and Cassandra Haller.

The taekwondo tournament at the SEA Games will start on Dec 18 and finish on Dec 21.

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