Life's a beach for hosts as Thailand cruise towards Games title in Phuket

Thais found success in the air sports, where they took the lion’s share of four golds with wins by Chantika Chaisanuk in the women’s individual accuracy, Kittiphop Phrommat in the individual precision and the individual Economy class, and the women’s team in accuracy.

Indonesia and South Korea shared one gold apiece, with the former taking the men’s individual accuracy thanks to Thomas Widyananto and the latter the men’s team accuracy. Thailand had mixed fortunes in the beach volleyball yesterday, with both women’s pairings advancing to an all-Thai semi-final clash but the men’s pairings going down to much stronger rivals.

Defending champions and Asian Games silver medallists Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee powered past Taiwan in straight sets in the quarter-finals, while team-mates Yupa Phokongploy and Usa Tenpaksee stunned China without losing a set. Kazakhstan take on Indonesia in the other women’s semi-final clash today.

“I was thrilled to win this match. Taiwan are very strong, with Kou Nai-han winning the bronze medal in the previous Games in Haiyang, China two years ago. We will try our best to keep the title on home soil,” said Tanarattha Udomchavee.

South Korea took the lone gold on offer in the beach modern pentathlon mixed team relay.

In beach soccer, Thailand finished seventh after beating China 3-2 in the play-off. Iran beat Japan in a nail-biting final 4-3 to win the title. The bronze went to the UAE.

An afternoon downpour once again played havoc yesterday and resulted in the postponement of a raft of events.

At press time, Thailand maintain their commanding lead with 41 gold, 31 silver and 30 bronze medals. With only two more days to go before tomorrow’s closing ceremony, the hosts are on the brink of becoming champions.

China are a distant second with 15 gold, 10 silver and 19 bronze medals, with South Korea (7-12-10), Japan (7-4-6) and Iran (6-8-6) in third, fourth and fifth.