A breakthrough year for Thai women

It’s been a roller-coaster year for Thailand’s sports fans. We had huge highs to celebrate, but also lows that left us scratching our heads in frustration. As we prepare for what the new year brings, The Nation casts a glance back at the biggest sports stories of 2013.

 

Ratchanok captures world title

When 14-year-old Ratchanok Intanon won the title in 2009, she became badminton’s youngest-ever world junior champion. A year later, the Thai teen sensation retained her junior crown in Mexico, before becoming the only player to win the title three years in a row when she triumphed in 2011. Thailand knew it had a future world star and Ratchanok lost no time in confirming it. At 18, she captured the BWF World Championships after stunning world No 1 and London Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui in the showdown to become the first ever Thai and the youngest player to be crowned singles world champion.

 

Volleyball fever 

Die-hard fans queued overnight in lines that snaked up to 2 kilometres for a chance to watch the Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship in Nakhon Ratchasima. Such was the fervour surrounding the Thai women’s team that thousands who failed to get tickets stormed fences around the stadium in a bid see the matches. Others bit the bullet and bought black-market tickets at many times their face value. The Thai spikers let no one down, pulling off a stunning 3-0 win in the final over London Olympic bronze medallists Japan to reign supreme. As Asian champs, the Thai spikers went on to represent the continent at the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in Japan. There, they registered a historic win over current and two-time world champions Russia.

 

Athletes reign at SEA Games 

The Thai delegation left Nay Pyi Taw on December 22 with their heads high after plundering 282 medals including 107 golds and 94 silvers, surpassing the target of 100 golds set by the Olympic Committee of Thailand. Though two gold shorts of what they achieved in Indonesia two years ago, Thais could boast record-breaking efforts in athletics and weightlifting. And they would surely have captured more golds had the hosts not dumped Olympic disciplines like gymnastics, tennis and beach volleyball in favour of traditional local sports Chinlone, Kempo and Vovinam, where Myanmar snatched dozens of gold medals. Nevertheless, Thailand went one better than their second place in the previous episode, capturing the overall SEA Games crown. Myanmar finished a distant second with 86 golds, while Vietnam (73) and Indonesia (65) came third and fourth.

 

LPGA Rookie of the Year 

After winning the LPGA Qualifying School along with Rebecca Lee-Bentham last December, Moriya Jutanugarn wrote a new chapter in the Kingdom’s golf history by becoming the first Thai to win the LPGA rookie of the year award. The 19-year-old beat arch-rival Caroline Masson of Germany by 10 points in the rankings after she finished tied 33rd in the last LPGA event, with Masson at 61st. In 24 LPGA tournaments this year, Moriya’s best result was a fourth in the Women’s Australian Open, while she only missed the cut five times.

 

Return of world soccer giants

Thailand was gripped by soccer fever in 2013 when English Premier League trio Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea plus Spanish giants Barcelona visited the country for a month-long football feast. Thailand is a regular stop on European clubs’ pre-season tours, but never before has such a famous quartet visited in the same year. Local fans made the most of the rare opportunity to get a glimpse of favourite players like England captain Steven Gerrard and world player of the year Lionel Messi. Despite their brief stay in the capital, all the four clubs made strong impressions.

 

Bid for F1 race collapses 

The Sports Authority of Thailand’s bid to bring Formula One to Bangkok caused a big stir in the middle of the year. The body planned to organise a night race on the Rattanakosin Island, but that provoked angry protests from residents around Rajdamnoen Avenue. Amid fears of noise, overcrowding and the effect the rumble of 300km/h cars on historical sites in the area, the proposal was finally dropped. Bangkok also suspended December’s Race of Champions as protests gripped the capital.

 

Ariya’s highs and lows 

Squandering a three-stroke lead heading to the final hole in Pattaya was bad enough for rising star Ariya Jutanugarn, but the real tragedy was having her season cut short by a shoulder injury just as she hit top form. Ariya was about to become the first Thai winner of an LPGA event when a disastrous triple bogey on the 18th shattered her dreams and handed Park In-bee the LPGA Thailand victory. Though she regrouped to earn a Ladies European title in Morocco plus several top 10 LPGA finishes, a fall during practice at the US Open in July has kept her on the sidelines ever since. 

 

Goodbye to the ATP Thailand Open 

After 11 years, the ATP Thailand Open finally packed its bags when organisers BEC-Tero Entertainment announced the top-tier tennis tournament would no longer be held 

in the Kingdom. Falling turnover in the past few years made it tough to find financial support to buy the event from its owner. So Lawn Tennis Association chief Suwat Liptapanlop decided to let go of the event, with the slot on the tennis calendar moving to Shenzhen next year. The news made Canadian Milos Raonic the last Thailand Open champion.

 

Badminton bans brawling players

Former partners Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit, who played side-by-side at last year’s London Olympic Games to make it to the quarter-finals, ended up brawling during the all-Thais men’s doubles final clash in the Canada Open. The Badminton World Federation and the Badminton Association of Thailand banned Bodin for two years for physical assault, while Maneepong received a three-month ban for provoking the incident.

 

Foul soccer election 

For Thai soccer, 2013 was all about the election to find a new football association head. To be more specific, the second half of the year was dominated by news of the election that followed the end of Worawi Makudi’s third term as president in mid June. After five months of murky wrangling over the voting eligibility of member clubs, the poll finally took place in October. 

The 62-year-old Worawi duly retained his post for a fourth consecutive term, despite widespread allegations of wrongdoing right up to the day of voting. The fallout from the election controversy has left Worawi unable to officially assume his role, and no one knows when he will be able to do so.