Thailand win first golds, go top at SEA Games
Thailand made an early surge to the top of the medals tally at the SEA Games yesterday, with two gold medals in the men's and women's chinlone Same Strokes (single-team takraw) at the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw.
Chinlone features a team of six players passing the ball back and forth with their feet, knees and heads. When the ball drops to the ground it is dead, and play starts again.
Benefiting from the absence of hosts Myanmar, who won the Games’ first two gold medals on Wednesday in the chinlone Linking, the Thai men’s team beat Cambodia in the final while the women saw off Laos, propelling the Kingdom to the top of the medals tally with two golds, plus two silvers (men’s chinlone and women’s Linking).
The six-member Thai women’s team dominated the preliminary rounds with 200 points, with Laos second at 180 and Malaysia third with 110 points. The Thais led from the beginning in the final against Laos before finishing 202–192 winners to grab Thailand’s first gold medal in the regional tournament.
The men’s squad emulated the women by trouncing Cambodia 256–236 in the final. Thailand reigned supreme in the preliminary round with a score of 256, 10 ahead of Cambodia. Laos and Malaysia shared the bronze. The golds will earn each Thai squad member a Bt200,000 reward through the National Sports Development Fund. Silvers will garner a Bt100,000 bonus, with Bt50,000 going to bronze-medallists.
On Wednesday, Myanmar took an early lead with a clean sweep of the first two gold medals on offer, thrashing Thailand in the final of the chinlone men’s and women’s Linking. Six days ahead of the official Nay Pyi Taw opening ceremony, the hosts fared well in their traditional 1,500-year-old sport, getting the 27th edition of the Games off to a great start for home fans.
