Power is not eternal and cocky attitude comes with a big price

But when Sombat Euammongkol, who came out of nowhere, was nominated against the seven-time winner and the voting switched to a secret ballot instead of the usual hand raising, the whole General Assembly and the media smelt something unprecedented was going to happen. And it did. “Boom”, the giant-killer, was elected the new tennis boss, 35 votes to 19.
All of a sudden the shocked vice president Tawatchai Samutsakorn, who chaired the meeting, declared the election null and void. He halted the meeting, citing unusual circumstances.
The Sports Authority of Thailand was asked to step in to look into the scenario after 37 club representatives, who switched back their support to Suwat, called for nullification of the election result in a letter. In the meantime Sombat, a former national player, was readying for a fight to prove his victory was fair.
Regardless of how the saga will end, the election result reflected the fact that a bunch of tennis clubs, mostly from upcountry, questioned the functioning of Suwat’s administration. Unhappy parents of young players and several current and ex-national players who disagreed with LTAT’s policies were believed to be behind those who wanted to overthrow the present administration. Long time conflicts within the LTAT led to a well-planned secret plot to bring in a new leader.
Following the retirements of Paradorn Srichaphan, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Danai Udomchoke, the country’s most successful players, the country does not have a single player who can be classified as world class. It raises questions as to why Suwat, after 14 years at the helm, was not able to do much to nurture talent in the country.
In the meantime, many people criticised the staging of big budget exhibition matches featuring world class stars as a sheer waste of money. They contended that the LTAT should instead use the money to send Thai players to compete outside the country and get world rankings.
Though Suwat said that the private sector sponsored those friendly events and the LTAT had nothing to do with it, parents and players did not buy his argument. Some players wanted answers as to why the LTAT had no budget to send them to compete overseas when several big prize money events were held at home with a nod and a wink from the association’s officials.
Many felt that certain LTAT executives have conceived exhibitions as merely business-making schemes. A series of international tournaments, normally open to outsiders who asked for sanctions and held them on their own, were reserved for a certain group of people believed to support the personal businesses of officials. Things have gone too far at the LTAT office, and the group, which wielded power, was over-confident and thought that they held all the aces.
What’s more, a lucrative budget under the new Sport Act is expected to be one of the reasons for this fight for power. The stakes are quite high, enough to entice a revolution from a certain group of people who picked dark horse Sombat as their candidate.
 Re-election looms, with the possibility of Suwat returning to power. But Sombat, who as a player was known for his never-say-die attitude, won’t make things easy for the incumbent president. The saga will go on and on and no one knows how it is going to end.
But one big lesson learned from this is that power is not eternal and cocky attitudes come with a big price. Whoever sits in the LTAT presidential seat should be more prudent with each step he takes as he will be monitored closely by society.