Taekwondo mastermind sees golden future for Thailand
Thailand's taekwondo coach Choi Young-seok, the man behind the country's success at the Olympic Games, has pledged his future to the national team despite reported interest in his services from the Middle East.
The Korean, who has been working with the team for nearly a decade, has played a key role in the country’s rise to prominence in the Korean martial art. He first helped Yaowapa Boorapolchai win the country’s first ever Olympic medal, a bronze at the 2004 Athens Games.
Choi’s impact became even more evident when a series of international titles followed Yaowapa’s success, the most notable being Buttree Puedpong’s silver at the Beijing Games and Rangsiya Nisaisom’s triumph in becoming the first ever Thai to win a world title last year.
Though the Korean failed to help the country win a gold medal in London – Thailand returned with a bronze through Chanatip Sonkham in the women’s 49kg category – Choi is still regarded as indispensable to the team.
His future has been the subject of speculation at the end of each Olympics since Athens and the Korean has yet again been linked to a job elsewhere, with reports suggesting a Middle-Eastern country is ready to offer him a lucrative deal. However, Choi committed his future to Thailand when he and three of his fighters who competed in London visited Singha Corporation yesterday to thank them for supporting the Taekwondo Association of Thailand.
“I want to continue my work here. It’s still an unfinished project. I want to deliver the first Olympic gold medal in the sport to the country.
“I’m proud to be part of a team that made people happy with our performances in London. I hope we can do it [winning Olympic gold] in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“I would love to get Thai nationality as I love this country. I want to live in this country for a long time and I already have a family here. My son is already three years old and I want him to study here,” said Choi.
Piti Bhirombhakdi, group manager, Singha, congratulated the association and confirmed that the company would continue its support until the next Games in Brazil.
“I want to thank the association and the athletes in particular for their great efforts at the Games. They made the country very proud.
“We’ll support them with a budget of Bt20 million until the next Games in Rio de Janeiro. We will also give them an extra medal incentive of Bt2 million. We want to hold more activities to increase the interest in the sport among our youth,” said Piti.
