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Published on December 14, 2007

Entering the second round trailing 0-2, Chonnapas scored when the Vietnamese was unguarded and followed by a left kick on her rivals face to level at 3-3.

The last round was closely fought, before the Thai snatched the gold with a right kick, as 35 seconds remained on the clock.

"I was thinking that I still had time to beat her while I was trailing in the first round. My confidence was lifted when I levelled the score," said Chonnapas, who has already received a ticket to the Olympic Games next year.

After settling for silver in the Manila edition of the Games, Patiwat Thongsalab's dream of laying his hands on gold finally came true after he trounced Daren Turbs of Cambodia 4-1 in the men's lightweight. Levelling at 1-1 in the last round, the Cambodian tried to steal points of Patiwat's face, but the Thai answered with a right kick to put himself ahead.

With only 15 seconds remaining, the reckless Turbs was punished by three straight side kicks.

"I had started the bout slowly. My form was not bad, but it was just not good as I had expected," Patiwat said. In the men's bantamweight, debutant Nacha Punthong led from the start to stamp his maiden gold with a 7-4 victory over Ryan Chong Wy Lunn of Malaysia 7-4.

The other Thai finalist Ladawan Wachiramekakul lost  to Seo Soe of Burma 3-2 in the women's bantamweight.

Somporn Suphop

 The Nation

Nakhon Ratchasima