Determined Thais arrive quietly
JAKARTA (JP): The second wave of the Thai team arrived yesterday for the 19th SEA Games determined to repeat its superb performance of two years ago.
Thailand's deputy chief of mission, Preeda Rodphothong, said upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport his team was not expecting to top the medals table, but was instead looking ahead to the future: the 1998 Asian Games.
"We don't expect much. We are prepared to give victory to the host country although our athletes will do their best," Preeda said.
"We are concentrating more on the Asian Games. That's a bigger event as more nations will compete," he added.
Thailand won 157 golds to finish way ahead of Indonesia in the last SEA Games, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was Thailand's second upset win over the region's dominant sporting powerhouse, Indonesia; the first came in 1985, also at home.
Next year Thailand will play host to the 13th Asiad in Bangkok, the fourth continental sporting meet to be held in the country after 1966, 1970 and 1978.
Rodphothong led about 110 athletes, most of whom will compete in track and field. A total of 395 Thai sportsmen and women will take part in this year's SEA Games, scheduled to be officially opened on Saturday.
The Thais arrived here after almost one year of preparation for the week-long event. "The games will serve as a trial for the Asian Games," Rodphothong said.
Meticulous preparation, however, was carried out by Thailand's Olympic commission. It signed many foreign coaches and arranged strict training schedules for its athletes.
Among the athletes who arrived yesterday was defending women's 100-meter dash champion Rawadee Srithoa. The mother of a four- year-old son said she loved to be in Jakarta again and vowed to retain her gold.
"I run for the gold medal in this games," the 30-year-old employee of the state-owned telecommunications company said in confident mood.
Rawadee is among the track and field athletes under the tutelage of Loren Seagrave, a former American ice hockey player from Atlanta, who has been hired for Thailand's preparations for the Asiad.
However, Seagrave said that it was difficult to predict the track and field medal winners this time.
"Indonesia has good sprinters. I have heard four or five names. But I think Thailand's team is good too," he said.
Seagrave will also field the Thai women's national 10,000m champion, Lalee Saifun, who is only 12 years old.
Thailand romped home with 21 of the 44 golds at stake in the track and field competition in the last SEA Games.
Among the SEA Games Organizing Committee officials who welcomed the Thais was Deputy Chairman Arie Sudewo. (04)