Gold-winning Thai can do wonders for team morale
NANJING: Thai teenager Panipak Wongpattanakit kicked her way to taekwondo gold at the Youth Olympics to bring some welcome cheer for a sport that has been battered by recent domestic scandal.
Panipak, 17, claimed her country’s first gold at the Nanjing Games by beating Azerbaijan’s Ceren Ozbek 21-1 in the final of the women’s 44kg division and will head to next month’s Asian Games.
Such success seemed a distant dream in July when the Thai team was rocked by national team fighter Rungrawee Kurasa’s accusation that head coach Choi Young-seuk had assaulted her after she lost a first round bout at the Korea Open.
Rungrawee went on television to say the South Korean hit her in the face and stomach only to withdraw the claims and apologise.
Thai Taekwondo Association president Pimol Srivikorn later said the saga had effected all those involved in the sport at home and that Panipak’s victory was a timely boost. “It’s a huge relief for me that she won,” Pimol said.
MEILUTYTE GEARS UP FOR GOLD, CHINA TOP TABLE London Games gold medallist Ruta Meilutyte cruised through to the women’s 100 metres breaststroke final at the Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday, while China surged to the top of the medals table on the third day of competition in Nanjing.
Lithuanian Meilutyte, the world record holder over 50m in the discipline, will swim for her second gold of the Games on Wednesday before hopping on a plane to Berlin bound for the European Championships.