Courtship blossoms on the ball courts

Yes, they’re the ones who last year won the Asian women’s championship for the second time, so all of those girls can attest that training hard can bring good fortune in games. Love, of course, is a different matter – it only comes naturally, and only when the timing is right.
This year Onuma has found love. The lucky guy is the tall, dark and handsome Thai-Irish basketball player Wutipong “Ruben” Dasom. “We first met early last year at the Sports Authority of Thailand during routine training,” says Onuma, 28, a Surat Thani native. “Nothing happened at the time because we didn’t get to talk and get know each other that much. But I did notice that he was secretly checking me out!
“Then we met again during physiotherapy sessions last October, and this time around I got to know him a little better.” Finally, at the Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar in December, Ruben won Onuma’s heart.
“Ruben rounded up his basketball friends to support us in our match and that made all the difference for me,” she says. “Since then we’ve kept in touch via Line. My teammates and I keep each other company when we travel, but it’s much better when you have someone special to talk to and share intimate feelings.”
Ruben has everything Onuma hoped for in a boyfriend, including the looks. “My type is someone like my favourite actor, Pakorn ‘Boy’ Chatborirak – tall, scruffy with a masculine face – and Ruben is exactly like that,” she giggles. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. But I’d never ask him if I’m the girl of his dreams!”
Asked if first tinkles of love might soon turn into the chimes of wedding bells, Onuma grins. “It’s too soon to think that far ahead. We’re very happy together at the moment, and that’s good enough for me right now.”

Love conquers egotism

It’s on again! Celebrity couple Ananda Everingham and Manasnan “Donut” Panlertwongskul are giving their relationship a second chance after half a year’s separation.
It was a bumpy ride for the Thai-Australian actor and delicious Donut, who started dating a year ago January. The consensus among gossips is that they split up because they’re both hot-headed, egotistic and basically happier when they’re on their own. A romantic getaway to Vietnam seems to have tilted positions and personalities and they’re now described as calmer and more compromising about conducting a relationship in the limelight.
“I’m very happy now that we’ve decided to get back together,” Ananda tells Manager Online. “We’ll talk less and listen to each other more. As for me, I’ll try to be less of myself to make room for Donut in my life. I don’t want to go through another break-up.”
Ananda nevertheless confidently admits they still argue all the time, even on the set of the TV series they’re filming together. The Hollywood-style series perhaps aptly titled “Sode Samer” (“Always Single”) will premiere on True Visions in the next few months. “We literally fight about everything in the world,” he says. “But we’re both adults. We talk it out reasonably with much less emotion now.”
Official status report, Ananda? “I guess she’s my girlfriend now. It might have always been that way, but we didn’t really want to label it.”