Thais surge to fourth spot in medals table

Thais surge to fourth spot in medals table

Track and field, sailing stars pick up the slack

Chayut Khongprasit, left, crosses the finish line to win the men's 200m final in New Clark City. ap
Chayut Khongprasit, left, crosses the finish line to win the men's 200m final in New Clark City. ap

The Thai athletes finally picked up the steam to put on their strongest showing at the 30th SEA Games in the Philippines yesterday.

The Kingdom's stars moved up to fourth place with 41 gold medals in the overall standings after picking up 18 yesterday at press time. However they are still way behind the host nation who have so far amassed 85 gold medals, followed by Indonesia (50) and Vietnam (43).

The Games end on Wednesday.

Quick off the blocks

Sprinter Chayut Khongprasit picked up the first gold medal for the Thai athletics team at the biennial tournament, winning the men's 200m race in 20.71sec at New Clark Athletic Stadium yesterday. Siripol Punpa (20.78) made it a one-two finish for Thailand.

Thai-American runner Kieren Tuntivate made it two with his victory in the 10,000m race, clocking 30:19.28min while hammer thrower Kittipong Boonmawan also topped the podium with his 67.56m effort.

SAILORS RULE

The sailing team put on a dominant display, winning five gold and two silver medals at Subic Bay Yacht Club yesterday.

Thai sailors celebrate with their medals.

Panwa Boonnak and Noppassorn Khunboonjane won the men's and women's optimist (under 16) events, while pairs of Jedtavee Yongyuennarn and Chakkaphat Wiriyakitti and Chanokchon Wangsuk and Piyaporn Khemkaew claimed the top honours in the men's and women's 420 classes.

Kamolwan Chanyim grabbed the fifth with her victory in the women's laser radial event.

The two silver medals came from Keerati Bualong (men's laser standard) and men's 470 duo of Navee Thamsoontorn and Nut Butmarasri.

Rhythmic gymnasts shine

Benjaporn Lampanich ended Thailand's eight-year wait for their first rhythmic gymnastics gold medal after she won the clubs event.

Benjaporn turned in a highly skilful performance that earned her a total of 17.150 points, good enough to beat Malaysia's Koi Sie Yan to second place with a total of 16.900 points.

Daniela Dela Pisa finished with 16.100 points to claim the bronze medal for the host country.

The Thais also reigned supreme in the women's group all-round final for three hoops and two pairs of clubs.

Thailand took the second place on the podium in the women's group 5-balls all-around with 21.000 points with Malaysia (22.650 points) taking the gold and the Philippines (17.100) settling for bronze.

The Kingdom also claimed silver and bronze with Nat Kulsanawong finishing second and third in the ball and ribbon events.

Ping Pong supremacy

In an-Thai women's doubles title showdown of the table tennis competition, it was the pair of Orawan Pranang and Suthasini Sawettabut who came out 3-0 on top.

LEFt  Orawan Pranang, left, and Suthasini Sawettabut in action during the women's doubles final. credit

The duo dominated their opponents with consummate ease as experienced Suthasini showed no mercy to the pair of Nanthana Komvong and her teenage sister Jinnipa.

Orawan and Suthasini were in devastating form as they claimed the first two sets 11-6 and 11-2.

Nanthana and Jinnipa improved late in the match but their challenge ended in a 11-9 loss in the third set.

TIME TRIAL HEROES

The cycling team also topped the podium yesterday after winning the men's team time trial.

The team of Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn, Navuti Liphongyu, Peerapol Chawchiangkwang and Sarawut Sirironnachai clocked 1:59:39.792 to defeat Indonesia (1:59:43.926) and the Philippines (2:01:38.99).

The Judo team ended the campaign in style with a victory in the men's team event at Laus Group Event Centre.

Terada Masayuki, Kittipong Hantratin and Wei Puyang won their respective bouts to give Thailand a 3-2 victory over Vietnam in the final.

In shooting, Pongpol Kulchai-rattana won the men's 10m air pistol event, scoring 240.5 points. The silver and bronze medals went to Vietnamese deadeyes Hoang Xuan Vinh (239.6) and Tran Quoc Cuong (215.2).

In taekwondo poomsae, Orna-wee Srisahakit, Kotchawan Chomchuen, Phenkanya Phaisankiattikun combined impressively to win the women's team gold medal with a score of 8.399 points. Athletes from the host nation took the silver (7.999) while the bronze went to Vietnam (7.866).

Swimming drought ends

In swimming, Nuttapong Ketin ended the Kingdom's gold medal drought after retaining his men's 200m breaststroke with a time of 2.12.57min. Pham Thanh Bao of Vietnam came second (2.12.84) and Ang Maximillian Wei of Singapore third (2.13.96).

The traditional boat race crew also struck gold yesterday at Malawaan Park. They won the 22-seater mixed team event, crossing the line in 39.792sec. They also won silver and bronze medals in the men's 12-seater 200m and the women's 4-seater 200m events.

Earlier, Uaychai Kongsee delivered the first gold of the day by winning the Asean chess competition.

Uaychai started off with a points victory over Dede Lioe of Indonesia but lost the next round to Mohamad Ervan (Indonesia).

The Thai then halved the point in his next two battles following draws with Wynn Zaw Htun of Myanmar and Darwin Laylo of the Philippines.

However, Uaychai's overall performance in the tournament was enough to land him the gold medal.

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