Chayanisa vaults to historic medal
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Chayanisa vaults to historic medal

All five Thai fighters make it to semi-finals

It was another quiet day for Thailand at the Asian Games in Indonesia Tuesday as pole vault star Chayanisa Chomchuendee won the country's only medal - a silver.

The 29-year-old from Surin managed a personal best 4.30m in the women's competition to win the Kingdom's first ever medal in the discipline.

China's Li Ling won gold with a new Games record of 4.60m while South Korea's Lim Eun-Ji took bronze with 4.20m.

Competing in her third Asian Games, Chayanisa won a medal for the first time. She finished sixth in Guangzhou and Incheon with 3.80 and 3.90m records respectively.

She is a three-time SEA Games winner in the event (2013, 2015 and 2017).

It is the second medal for the Thai track and field team after Suttisak Singkhon got silver in decathlon on Sunday.

Tuesday was a perfect day for Thailand in the boxing ring after five fighters made it to the semi-finals, guaranteeing themselves at least bronze medals.

Yuttapong Tongdee (52kg), Rujakran Juntrong (60kg) and Saylom Ardee (69kg) advanced to the last four of the men's tournament while Sudaporn Seesondee (60kg) and Nilawan Techasuep (57kg) marched into the women's semis at JIExpo Hall in Jakarta last night.

Yuttapong edged Gan-Erdene Gankhuyag of Mongolia 3-2 in the flyweight (52kg) quarter-final bout and will fight Rogen Ladon of the Philippines, who beat Azat Mahmetov of Kazakhstan 3-2, in the last four.

Rujakran was a 5-0 winner against Farrand Papendang of Indonesia in the lightweight (60kg) clash. He will take on Uzbekistan's Shunkor Abdurasulov, who beat Argen Kadyrbek of Kyrgyzstan 3-2, in the semis.

Saylom, competing in his fourth Asian Games, beat Sajjad Kazemzadeh Poshtiri of Iran 5-0 in the welterweight (69kg) division. He will next fight either Lim Hyun-Chul of South korea or Bobo Usmon Baturov of Uzbekistan.

Sudaporn defeated Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan 4-1 in the women's lightweight (60kg) quarter-final and will take on Huswatun Hasanah of Indonesia in the last eight.

Nilawan then made it five wins out of five matches for the Thai boxing team after she beat Saniya Sultankyzy of Kazakhstan 3-2 in the featherweight (57kg) class.

She will be up against Yin Junhua of China or Im Ae-Ji of South Korea in the semis.

All semi-final clashes will take place on Friday.

There are two more Thai fighters in action in the quarter-finals today.

Chatchai Butdee faces Jo Hyo-Nam of North Korea in the men's bantamweight (56kg) while Wuttichai Masuk meets Bekdaulet Ibragimov of Kazakhstan in the men's light-welterweight (64g) division.

Wuttichai was Thailand's only gold medal winner in boxing at Incheon 2014.

He and Chatchai are the Kingdom's only two boxers who won gold medals at the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia.

At the end of Tuesday's competition, Thailand had nine gold medals.

They aim to win 17 titles at Jakarta Palembang 2018, which ends on Sunday. The country claimed 12 golds in 2014.

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