Thai athletes ready to dominate track and field events at SEA Games

Track and field is traditionally a happy hunting ground for Thai athletes, who have taken the lion’s share of gold medals in the past seven SEA Games. The last edition in Indonesia saw them grab 14 golds. Surapong, who is both Amateur Athletics Association secretary general and a coach, is confident Thai athletes can top the medal table, with 46 golds on offer.

“Our goal is to win the overall title for the eighth consecutive time. In Indonesia we made mistakes in events such as the men’s 4x100m, but we made amends by winning other titles and met our target of 14 golds. So that number is our target this year.”

After separate training camps – the sprint team in Nakhon Ratchasima, the distance runners in Chiang Mai, hammer throwers in Tak province and shot-put team in China – the squad will begin make the journey to Myanmar from December 6.

Surapong has high hopes of the men’s 4x100m and women’s 4x100m squads, despite fielding rookie runners. “The men’s 4x100m team mostly comprises juniors but they have shown steady improvement. They recorded 40secs in the Asian Championship, 39.7secs in the World Junior Championships and 39.3 in the World University Games. If it’s not too cold during the Games, they may produce a better time,” said Surapong.

Other disciplines where Thais are expected to shine include the men’s long jump, men’s hammer throw, men’s pole vault, women’s heptathlon, men’s javelin, women’s javelin, men’s 100m, men’s triple jump, women’s discus, men’s shot put (Thailand have won five times in a row), men’s 100m hurdles, men’s discus, men’s long jump and men’s hammer.

Surapong has tipped sprinters Jirapong Meenapra and Aphisit Promkaew to make a big impact in the 100 metres.

 “I hope we will break our drought in the men’s 100m, which has eluded us for a long time. Jirapong is getting better and better while Aphisit, if he recovers from injuries, can be very dangerous in the last 30 metres. But it all depends on who performs on that day. I don’t want to put too much pressure on these boys as this category is very competitive.”

Meanwhile, Sindhu Pulsirivong, president of the Billiard Sports Association, is targeting three of the 12 gold medals up for grabs in billiards, snooker and pool. With former star Chuchart Trairattanapradit as the national coach, the Thai team is expected to dominate the billiards competition, while Singapore are favourites in snooker. National golf team manager Kanes Nitiwanakul reckons all four gold medals are within his players’ reach. 

Thailand’s golfers were best among the region’s teams at the Nomura Cup last week in Chiang Rai, where they finished third.