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Based on the Government’s Gold Standard, Thais Fall Short
December 20, 2009

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Thailand confirmed its status as the top dog at the Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos, with its table-topping display, but an inquest has already started into why it did not reach its pretournament target.

The Thais won 86 golds out of 372 — three clear of Vietnam and double third-place Indonesia’s tally — but they failed to hit 100 in a slimmed-down program.

Singapore was the king of the pool at the 10-day biennial showpiece. Thailand came out on top in athletics but suffered a shock loss in men’s football, crashing out in the group stage to eventual winner Malaysia.

Two years ago, then-host Thailand dominated the medal standings with 183 golds out of a total of 477 — well ahead of second-place Malaysia on 68 and Vietnam on 64 ­— taking its eighth consecutive title in under-23 football.

Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart, whose brief includes sports, was upset by Thailand’s performance, according to the Bangkok Post.

“I am disappointed by our performances in many sports, particularly football,” he told the newspaper.

“We will have to look into details to find out why athletes in many sports performed badly,” Sanan added.

Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha, president of Thailand’s National Olympic Committee, said there were many factors behind the nation’s failure to meet their 100-gold target, blaming poor management in some sports.

“We have money and human resources to develop our athletes and we should use them to the maximum effect,” he said, according to the Post.

Thailand, which won 266 medals overall to Vietnam’s 215, did not have enough information about its opponents and wrongly estimated how many golds it would win, he said.

He added that the Games contained many regional sports that Thailand was not familiar with such as fin swimming and shuttlecock. However, he said Thailand was much better than its rivals in internationally recognized sports.

Meanwhile, ecstatic Malaysian football coach K Rajagobal said his team’s first championship in 20 years in the much-coveted SEA Games football competition was just the start.

“It is hard to describe how I feel at the moment. The victory is for Malaysian football. It is for the people of Malaysia,” he said after his team’s 1-0 win over Vietnam.

“But at the same time, I would remind everyone that this is just the beginning. We have to be patient so that we will see a much better national team in the future.” AFP