"Thailand was praised for its efforts at hosting the 1st Asian Martial Arts Games at the closing ceremony at Hua Mark Stadium last night although the Games failed to attract large crowds as had been hoped.
The inaugural Games featured judo, jujitsu, karate, kickboxing, kurash, muay Thai, pencak silat, taekwondo and wushu and featured 980 athletes from 40 countries. A total of 21 countries brought home gold medals with Thailand being crowned the overall champion with 21 gold, six clear of the second placed Kazakhstan. Eight countries failed to win any medal.
Thailand deserved the victory, said Timothy Tsun Ting Fok, vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). Fok congratulated the host country for organizing the Games. . .
Dr. Sasithara Pichaichannarong permanent secretary of Ministry of Tourism and Sports, was confident that the hosting of the event, which was postponed twice owing to political events, showed that the country was at peace and ready to welcome tourists.However, Pimol Sriwikorn, president of Taekwondo Association of Thailand conceded that the Games could have been organised better, citing the few spectators that showed up."
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/217...tial-arts-games
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Thais win most medals at 1st Asian Martial Arts Games
Started by Kirkland, Aug 10 2009 09:44 AM
1 reply to this topic
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Posted 11 August 2009 - 04:33 PM
It was the proverbial party to which nobody came. Those who did come and who weren't Thai, found the officiating that resulted in Thai dominance in the gold count, less than balanced. Some are already predicting that the first Asian Martial Arts Games will be the last. There's talk of either merging them with some more established sports event or dumping them entirely.
