NATIONAL YOUTH GAMES: Young athletes from Phuket have been lauded after performing admirably at the recent National Youth Games where they collectively claimed an impressive 53-medal haul.
Their overall team performance placed Phuket as fourth best-ranked province in the south and 17th nationally at the 38th edition of the tournament, which was held in Nakhon Sawan, 240 kilometres north of Bangkok, from Mar 25 to Apr 4, with a total of 16,346 athletes and officials involved.
Participating across a wide range of sporting disciplines, the young Phuketians bagged 12 gold medals, 11 silver and 30 bronze.
The 46 selected sports included taekwondo, futsal, handball, various categories of wushu, jiu-jitsu, judo, skateboarding, rugby, weightlifting, cricket, badminton and tennis, among others.
“The youth athletes representing Phuket performed excellently and exceeded all the goals set prior to the competition,” commented Damrong Chaisena, Phuket Office Director from the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).
“Each and every athlete can be extremely proud of his and her performance and look forward to the future with great confidence.
“All of us at the Sports Authority of Thailand Phuket Office send our sincere congratulations to all of the youngsters who competed and won medals to make the province of Phuket very proud,” Mr Damrong added.
An official gala ceremony to celebrate the achievements will be organised shortly, Mr Damrong explained, adding that cash prizes will be distributed to every athlete who won a medal.
He also revealed that the SAT Phuket office and various public and private sector entities had collaborated to fund the trip, with almost B1.5 million spent on the participating athletes and their coaching staff.
Medal haul
The first athletes to win medals for Phuket were the men’s tennis team on Mar 25. The team, which won bronze, consisted of Patchara Suklian, Thinpat Thientawat, Naphat Yuphan, Wachirawit Singhakarn, Tintin Chinpiset Yacht and Chawin Limmanakul.
On Mar 28 Phakin Mutitakul won gold in Nangun Wushu martial arts, while Tacharat Phimonphan won silver in the Nanquan Wushu category. Phakin followed this up two days later by winning his second gold in the art of Nantao, a Wushu sword discipline.
Also on Mar 28 the women’s Poomsae team, consisting of Ketiwa Praipruk, Yokmanee Boonrit and Tassanee Boonchuay, won bronze. Poomsae, a Korean discipline, sees a defined pattern of defense-and-attack taekwondo techniques linked together into a sequence.
Other medalists included Sukrita Kisin, who won silver in the women’s Jiu-Jitsu 52kg weight class and Kittipit Prawan, who won a gold medal in Motocross on Mar 31.
Phachara Suklian and Wachirawit Singhakarn won a bronze medal in the men’s doubles tennis on Apr 2, while Nichapat Laoprasertsiri secured bronze in the Jian Su Wushu sword discipline and Petch Craft won bronze in Qing Su Wushu.
On Apr 3 Phacharaphol Singkara won gold in the men’s skateboarding, while bronze medals went to Krittaphol Phutong in the skate run category and Patcharanai Suksomboon who won three bronze medals across different categories, including best skateboarding trick.
On the final day of competition further bronze medals were won by Nattapon Chancharoensin in Chang Quan Wushu, Nattapon Chancharoensin in Jian Su Wushu and Thacharat Pimonphan in the Nantau Wushu class.
The closing ceremony on Apr 4 was presided over by Kongsak Yodmanee, SAT Governor, who was joined by Chayan Sirimas, Governor of Nakhon Sawan Province, and selected dignitaries.
Mr Kongsak declared the tournament a huge success that will go a long way to helping all of the competing athletes develop their skills for future competition. He extended further thanks to officials from Nakhon Sawan province for organising such a successful event, in addition to various public and private sector entities who helped support the event, economically and logistically.
To officially mark the conclusion of the Games the national youth sports flag was handed over to representatives from Ratchaburi province, where the 39th edition of the tournament is scheduled to be held between Mar 21-31, 2024.
