Chalermpong Chiewsakul       Songchai Ratanasuban

The cooperation of Thailand’s leading stadiums Lumpini and Ratchadamnern seems to stumble after the successful cross-stadium event on August 6 due to conflict on revenue sharing, says a muaythai columnist.

The event on August 6, held at Ratchadamnern, was a joint effort of the two rival stadiums with Ratchadamnern’s Chalermpong Chiewsakul and Lumpini’s Songchai Ratanasuban as chief organizers.

Muay Siam writer “Singdong” said the cooperation of the two promoters, as they toured the muaythai gyms together prior to the event, was such a rare scene, which many believed would not last for long.

According to him, after the event the host stadium officials refused to pay the fighters of any of the two stadiums, claiming that Chalermpong had ordered them to resolve certain accounting issues first.

Thailand’s 40-year-old former world champion Veeraphol Sahaprom is fighting Indonesia’s Singo Kinaro while WBC Asia bantamweight champion Yodkhunpon Nakornluang Promotion is defending his title against Indonesian challenger Alex BS in an event today.

The two matches will be held the Northeastern Thai town of Khon Kaen and will be broadcasted in the country by the Channel Three network from 2.30 p.m. onward. All four boxers, two Thais and two Indonesians, have passed the weighting here yesterday.

Veeraphol, who won the WBC bantamweight champion title twice in 1995 and 1998, said he is looking to perform well today, which may help him to get a rematch with old-time rival Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan. The two have fought in four WBC bouts, resulting in two wins and two draws.

Although the recent Asian Martial Arts Games has ended quite smoothly with some praises to host country Thailand, certain events have shown the organizers as well as many staff of the Thai teams were quite poorly prepared, says a sport columnist.

The Khao Sod newspaper writer, who goes by the alias “Pao Paek”, said the games did not see much trouble and ended smoothly to the relief of many relevant parties, while the host country was satisfied with the wins of 21 gold medals, the highest of all nations, but some action of the organizers had raised eyebrows, regarding their preparedness, or lack of, for some sports.

According to him, the jujitsu judges were unable to answer the reporters on the scoring and matching system and only told them that they were “not sure” about it. The coach of the Thai jujitsu team did not seem to understand the system either.

Thailand’s two muaythai fighters have won medals from Wushu at the First Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok, with muaythai star Anuwat Kaewsamrit winning a silver medal and his comrade Wutthidet Lukprabaht a gold.

According to earlier reports, Anuwat surprised his muaythai fans when he entered the games as a Wushu athlete, saying he did not expect any success as it was his first time to fight in this Chinese martial art sport.

Anuwat, who went by his real name Adisak Pongpichai, apparently did better than the expectation as he won a silver medal from the 56-kilogram class after losing to South Korean fighter Kim Jun Yul by 2-0. The Thai seemed to be able to utilize his much-acclaimed heavy muaythai kicks in the Wushu bout, but his Korean opponent was able to score more.

The first, and probably last, Asian Martial Arts Games has ended with a grand closing ceremony on Sunday, with host country Thailand winning 21 gold medals, the highest of all participating nations, following by Kazakhstan at 15 golds and South Korea at 10.

This may be the only Asian Martial Arts Games held in this form, as the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has decided to merge it with the Asian Indoor Games, which will be held in every four years. The council said the separate events would be too much of a burden to the host countries.

The closing ceremony on August 9 at the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok was presided over by Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Subhavasu and featured four shows, including the “The Spirit Goes On”, “The Games of Arts”, the “The Land of Mind”, and the “Flame of Impression”.

WBC “interim” flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand will defend his title against Japanese challenger Takahisa Masuda at the end of this month in Thailand.

Pongsaklek, who won the title after defeating Julio Cesar Miranda of Mexico earlier this year, will fight Masuda in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai on August 28, according to a press conference held by his promoters on August 5.

Their match will be part of a large event that will also host a tournament of eight muaythai fighters, one of whom is the versatile Wanheng Meenayothin who holds the WBC youth strawweight title.

The Lumpini-Ratchadamnerm event on August 6 is expected to generate a good profit amid the downturn time of muaythai, but its organizer Songchai Ratanasuban may not get much share of the cake, say insiders.

The much-anticipated muaythai event that pits fighters from Thailand’s top two stadiums against each other is hosted at the Ratchadamnern Stadium with promoter Songchai as the chief organizer.

The muaythai bout of Rungpetch Sitjakung and Yodyudh Or Srisama at Ratchadamnern Stadium on July 30 was not particularly pleasant to the spectators.

First of all, Yodyudh was knocked out after some exchange of knee strikes that seemed to warrant a foul to Rungpetch. The referee did nothing, and the crowd expectedly gave a booing.

Perhaps there is no one to blame, as the Rungpetch’s strike did not seem to aim at the crotch, said a Muaymag.com reporter who was at the scene. But it came as a surprise that no stadium official went to help the unconscious Yodyudh in the ring. The responsible official had reportedly already gone home.

Muay Tu reporter Phonchai Udomsomphon did not quite get the unconventional payroll method of Lumpini Stadium.

As the stadium has a tradition of having reporters as official witnesses to its muaythai bouts, Phonchai was asked to sit for the muaythai light flyweight title bout of Fahrungrueng Sor Poonsawat and Mutu Kaiyanghadao Gym on July 21.

He might have done it before at Ratchadamnern, but this was his first time with Lumpini. The man had no clue the stadium prefers to slip the 2,000-Baht pay in the program leaflet, rather than handing it out directly to the reporters like Ratchadamnern would.

Thailand has secured at least five medals in muaythai at the first Asian Martial Arts Games, as four Thai female athletes and one male have received quarterfinal spots through lucky draws.

Muaythai, or “muay”, is one of the nine sports being competed at the Martial Arts Games, held in Bangkok and Suphanburi in Thailand on August 2-7. The sport sees competitions by 100 athletes from 19 nations, according to Sakchai Tapsuwan, chairman of the Amateur Muaythai Association of Thailand (AMAT).

Mr. Sakchai said although host country Thailand is expected to be the top powerhouse in the 16-event sport, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and South Korea are considered fierce contenders in the sport as well.