Hat-trick for golden boy Pongsakorn at Dubai Championship
THAILAND EMERGED WITH great credit from the recent World Para Games in Dubai after a medal haul of 8 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze resulted in a third place finish overall.
The Dubai 2022 World Para Athletic Grand Prix and 13th Fassa International Para Athletic Championships took place in Dubai from Mar 21-25.
Leading the charge for Thailand was Paralympic hero Pongsakorn Paeyo, showing he has lost none of his quality after storming to another hat-trick of gold medals, as he did at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo last September.
On the opening day of competition last Monday (Mar 21) he claimed top-spot in the men’s 800m wheelchair finals of the T53 class, crossing the finish line with a time of 1 minute 38.36 seconds.
He was followed by fellow Thais Masburi Azae with a time of 1m 41.25s and Sopha Inthasen in 1m 41.51s, who won silver and bronze medals respectively.
Pongsakorn then won gold in the men’s 400m T52/53 class in 47.41s, with Masburi and Sopha again finishing second and third respectively.
Rounding off his triple haul, Pongsakorn stormed to gold medal victory in the men’s 100m T53 class in 14.45s with Sopha claiming bronze in 15.57s.
Elsewhere, Pitchaya Kuratanasiri won the men’s 100m T33/ 51/52 class with a time of 19.65s, Denpoom Kotcharang won silver in the men’s 100m T63/64 class and Chaiwat Ratana, racing in the T34 class, won silver in the men’s 100m and bronze in the men’s 800m.
Thailand dominated in the men’s 400m T54 class as Athiwat Phaengnua won gold with a time of 45.04s, Saichon Konjane won silver in 46.38s and Phutharet Kongrak claimed bronze in 46.44s.
In the men’s 5,000m T54 class Thai veteran History Wahoram claimed silver with a time of 10 minutes. Fellow Thais Phutharet Kongrak and Pipatpong Sianglam finished fifth and sixth respectively.
In the women’s wheelchair racing, Techini Duangin won bronze in the 100m T34/54 class and compatriot Athitaya Chukerd won bronze in the 800m race of the same classification.
In the men’s shotputt class F11/20, Boonkong Sanaeput not only won the gold medal but set a new world record of 13.25 metres with his effort.
Colombia finished top of the medal table overall with Algeria in second place and Thailand in third place.
Ben Tirebuck