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Thailand's First Olympic Medalist Payao Poontarat Passed Away Yesterday


Jai Dee

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Thailand's first Olympic medalist Payao Poontarat passed away yesterday

Thailand’s first Olympic medalist Payao Poontarat (พเยาว์ พูลธรัตน์) died yesterday of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at Siriraj Hospital. He was 49.

Pol. Capt. Payao won the bronze in the light flyweight category in Montreal, Canada, in 1976.

After retiring from boxing, he joined the Democrat Party and won the general election in Prachuap Khiri Khan in 2001.

ALS is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease characterized by a degeneration of motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 14 August 2006

RIP

:o

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Thailand's first Olympic hero and former WBC champion dies

Thailand's first Olympic medal winner and former World Boxing Council champion Payao Poontarat died Sunday in a Bangkok hospital, local media reported. He was 49.

He had suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a degenerative nerve and brain disease which he was diagnosed with in 2002.

Payao became a local hero in 1976 when he won Thailand's first Olympic medal, clinching the bronze in the light flyweight category in Montreal, Canada.

He then pursued his professional boxing career, becoming WBC flyweight champion with a victory over Rafael Orono from Venezuela in 1983.

He lost his title to Japan's Jiro Watanabe in 1984 and retired from the ring after losing to another Thai boxer.

In 2001, he turned his attention to politics, winning a seat in the general election for the opposition Democrat party in his home town, Prachub Kirikhan, 280 kilometers south of Bangkok.

Source: The Nation - 14 August 2006

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