Published on December 16, 2005

[ASEAN PARA GAMES] Thai athletes got off to a flying start in the 3rd Asean Para Games in the Philippines after capturing 22 gold medals on the second day of the region’s biggest sporting event for the disabled.

The one-week meet kicked off on Wednesday with a simple opening ceremony at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila. Disabled athletes from 11 countries are taking part in the meet including 264 Thais.

A total of 38 golds were on offer on the opening day of the track and field and Thai athletes fared well to rule the roost with 10 golds. Blind Wasan Chanthinmathorn from Kamphaeng Phet handed Thailand the first gold in the men’s shot put with a powerful heave of 8.66m.

Wheelchair-bound Prawat Wahoram, gold medallist at last year’s Athens Paralympic Games, performed superbly to win the men’s 5,000m with a time of 12 minutes, 10.10 seconds, while team-mates physically-disabled Wanna Ladee and wheelchair-bound Suppachai Koysap also did not let their fans down to win gold in the women’s shot put and men’s 200m respectively.

In the pool, where a total of 40 gold medals were at stake yesterday, Thai swimmers also made a big splash to dominate with 12 golds despite the fact that they took part in only 18 events.

Thailand led in the medal standing with a two-day haul of 22 golds. Malaysia was a distant second with eight golds, while Vietnam and Singapore are third and fourth with seven and four golds. Burma is placed fifth with three golds.

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