Piyasvasti: Thais determined to compete
Four Thai athletes have qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Piyasvasti Amranand, president of the Ski and Snowboard Association of Thailand, said yesterday.
They are siblings Mark and Karen Chanloung in cross-country skiing, and Nicola Zanon and Alexia Schenkel in Alpine skiing, he said.
Mark, Karen and Nicola are Thais of Italian blood, while Alexia is a Swiss-Thai.
They have gained enough points from competitions between July 1 and Jan 21 to secure berths at the Feb 9-25 Winter Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Mark and Karen competed at the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo earlier this year.
Piyasavasti admitted that it was extremely tough for the quartet to win an Olympic medal.
“We have to admit that it is very difficult for them to win a medal at the Olympic level. However, they will gain experience for the next Asian Winter Games in 2021 and Winter Olympics in 2022,” he said.
“They all are still young and have made
fast progress over the past year to win places at this year’s Winter Olympics. Their families are not rich but they are determined to compete for the country. We believe that
they can get good results at the next Asian Winter Games.”
With four representatives at the Pyeongchang Games, it will be Thailand’s biggest contingent in one Winter Olympics.
Since the nation’s official debut in the Winter Olympics in 2002, Thai athletes have appeared in every edition with the exception of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
At the 2014 Games in Sochi, there were two Thai athletes — Kanes Sucharitakul and British violinist Vanessa Mae who competed as Vanessa Vanakorn using her Thai father’s surname.
AHN TO MISS GAMES
Several Russian top medal hopes for the Winter Olympics, including six-time speedskating gold medallist Viktor Ahn, have been barred from the Pyeongchang Games amid the country’s ongoing doping scandal.
The Russian Olympic Committee said that Ahn, cross-country skier Sergei Ustyugov and biathlete Anton Shipulin have been left out of an International Olympic Committee pool of eligible athletes.
Other officials said that two-time figure skating medalist Ksenia Stolbova and several other speedskaters were also excluded.