Swimming in Spain

by Suzanne Dooley

Nipan Pangsri, 20, represented Thailand in the World Blind Sports Championships in Madrid recently. He swam freestyle in the 50m, the 100m and the relay. He was not among the winners, but was awarded a certificate for his swim.

Nipan Pangsri proudly displays the certificate he won in Spain.

Nipan is now selected to represent Thailand at FESPIC in January. He travels to Chonburi every day to train for two and a half hours. Previously he trained at Pattaya’s Thai Garden Resort.

An inexperienced swimmer, Nipan, of Pattaya’s Redemptorist School for the Blind, was talent spotted after swimming a very good race in April 1998 in Suphanburi. He was one of ten blind swimmers selected to go to Spain.

Nipan said, “I was very excited going to Spain. It was my first trip overseas. The morning weather was very chilly but the daytime was ok. I hope to swim much better in FESPIC in Bangkok.”

Nipan was born in Kkamphaeng Phet, a northwestern province. His family are rice farmers. The third of five children, both he and his younger brother were born blind. The medical reason is unknown.

Nipan says, “I learnt to swim in a canal. All the village children could swim. I liked catching fish in my bare hands. Both my father and my grandfather said I was a very good boy with very special skills.”

Because of his disability, Nipan could not learn to read and write. He came to the Pattaya Redemptorist Blind School when he was fifteen.

Mrs. Aurora, the Principal, takes up the story. “We didn’t know he could swim. In 1994 we sent him to the National Handicapped Sports in Bangkok. He won a bronze medal in high jump and a silver in table tennis. Then in 1995, he contested athletics, winning a bronze medal in the 100 meter sprint.

“In 1996, some volunteers took our students to the Thai Garden Resort one day. They discovered he could swim. So the school suggested he train for the sports in Nakon Sawan. In 1997, he won a silver medal in Bangkok for the 50m freestyle. Thanks to the volunteers we discovered he could swim.”

Nipan is now training rigorously so he can swim his best times at FESPIC. He hopes to represent Thailand, and especially Pattaya, with pride and skill. Perhaps there may be more overseas competitions. The people of Pattaya wish him the best of luck and much success.

Winners at Surat Thani

Story and photos by Suzanne Dooley

Eight members of the Redemptorist Vocational School Men’s Wheelchair Tennis Team recently traveled to Surat Thani to contest the 1998 Surat Thani Cup. All of the Pattaya team gained podium finishes.

Paisarn La-lad-Dee proudly displays the trophy he won at Surat Thani.

The best performance was by Jetsada Yodyangdeang who came third in the Men’s Singles in the Open Division. He is now training full time in Bangkok for the FESPIC Games in January.

Other winners and place-getters include Chaichana Punjarak, who came first in the C Division Men’s Doubles and third in the Men’s Singles C, and Sucha Rattanakornpitak, who took second place in the Men’s Singles C and third place in the men’s doubles.

There were no A and B divisions.

In D division, Paisarn La-Iad-Dee was second in both singles and doubles. He teamed with Manop Iamsa-ard in the doubles. Manop came second in the singles.

Boonsrai Dokpol took third place in the Men’s Doubles, C division.

Manop Iamsa-ard shows the D division trophy he won at Surat Thani.

The event was held from August 21-23 at the Surat Thani Tennis Center. Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles were contested by the 25 players who traveled from throughout Thailand to participate. It is one of five such events held in Thailand each year.

Pattaya was a strong presence in the Men’s events but did not feature in the Women’s events. Unfortunately, the school’s best female player, Anshulee Hardsam, 20, was too ill to play. She is currently training to represent Thailand in FESPIC.

Sucha Rattanakornpitak stated, “This is one of the best tournaments for Thai Wheelchair tennis players. The staff are very hospitable and the venue is excellent. We really enjoy playing at Surat Thani.”

Wheelchair tennis has the same rules as those endorsed by the International Tennis Federation, except that the player is allowed two bounces of the ball. Under the rules, the wheelchair is treated a part of the body. One foot-faults if the wheelchair moves during a serve. Braking is not allowed.

Delaney’s inaugural Irish Open golf tournament

Rayong Green Valley - Friday, 2nd October 1998

The Delaney’s Irish Open, organised by Delaney’s Pattaya (the Irish pub) in association with Pattaya Sports Club Golf and supported by Carlsberg, offers tremendous value and the opportunity to play in this Major inaugural event.

Entry fee of B.1000 per player includes: green fee, caddy fee, free Carlsberg on the course, Delaney’s open commemorative shirt, free Irish style carvery buffet (for all wearing the Delaney’s Irish open shirt) and prize giving at Delaney’s Pattaya, plus extended happy hour and live entertainment.

Prizes: Delaney’s Irish open championship trophy & prize for best Stableford score from divisions I & II, trophy and prize for winner, 2nd & 3rd places in divisions I & II, Guinness and Kilkenny vouchers for near pins, long drives, long putts and low gross for both divisions, carvery lunch voucher for ladies long drive, ladies trophy plus prize for ladies best score.

Format: Singles Stableford in groups of four, with full handicap allowance: Division I (0-18), Division II (19 - 36 men, 19-40 ladies).

Sign-up at Delaney’s.

PSC Darts in Pattaya gets a kick start

by Len Banfield

The Pattaya Sports Club is sponsoring a Darts event for PSC members only, in order to gauge the amount of interest among its members in playing darts.

The tournament will be held at the Cafe Kronborg, starting at 7.00 p.m. on Sunday 27 September. Registration opens at 6.00 p.m. It will be a Drawn Pairs.

Pattaya Sports Club has had a long association with darts, it being with golf one of the two original sports supported by the newly formed club. In recent times, the herculean task of transforming the Club into a legal Thai Association with about 6,000 members from all around the world has given the committee little time to keep track of and maintain an interest in darts.

Darts is peculiarly an English sport with its origins in the importance of archery to the English kings. The bowmen shot a 37 inch long (1 clothyard) arrow from a longbow at least twice as long and with a very heavy draw weight of about 80 lbs. The combination gave a range of over 300 yards and in medieval times massed flights of arrows were a tactic that eventually put an end to the effectiveness of heavily armoured knights on warhorses.

The arrows used against the knights were furnished with a Bodkin warhead, a long tapered needle point which could find its way through joints or weak points in a suit of armour or kill the horse and leave the knight vulnerable to pikemen and gangs of archers with knives and cudgels. The medieval training manual written by Roger Ascham devotes a lot of time to bowmaking, arrowsmithing and fletching, but the instruction for shooting the bow was simply “Step ye in the bow and shoot in comely forme.” (spelling not guaranteed).

Due to the variations in the making of arrows, the best way of testing them was to shoot them and mark those which grouped together. The bowmen weren’t all that keen on walking 360 yards after shooting a heavy bow so they devised a non destructive form of testing which consisted of throwing the arrow into the end of a wooden log, thus saving a lot of energy for saying prayers, etc.

Henry the Eighth, who was addicted to comely forms and was worried about the increasing power of the Spanish and the animosity of the Pope over his starting his own religion, and grabbing the Church properties, decreed that no sport was to be played on Sundays but that archery practice was compulsory instead. The natural result was an increasing number of people playing with arrows and wanting to have fun doing it. Ironically, by Henry’s time the use of the bow in warfare had pretty much lost its point with the development of firearms.

Centuries of change have led to the modern darts equipment and to the modern game with its international rules, especially suited to TV. Strangely, comprehensive instruction now goes something like: “Just step up to the ‘ockey and roll your arm over.” Do thou likewise...

At the Cafe Kronborg on 27 September and bring your membership card with you.

There is no entry fee to this tournament.

PSC Golf next week

The third week of September starts with a Stableford competition at Siam Country Club from the Cafe Kronborg on Monday the 14th, while the Splinter Group from the Green Bottle play stroke at Laem Chabang.

Pattaya Golf Society go to Pattaya Country Club for stroke play on Tuesday the 15th, and on Wednesday a chance to play Stableford at Bangpra with the Splinter Group, while TAGGS from Hare House offer a bogey competition at Green Valley. We go to Eastern Star on Thursday the 17th from Cafe Kronborg for a Stableford competition.

The week ends with a new ‘Major’ PSC Golf tournament, the ‘Rules Invitational’ on Friday the 18th of September at Khao Kheow. This is a Stableford Match competition open to all PSC Member golfers, between the Splinter Golf Group and TAGGS. Both Groups will play their normal weekday competitions leaving at their normal times , TAGGS at 08:30 and SGG at 10:00.

In addition, the best 10 Stableford scores from each side will determine the winner of the Stableford Cup to be awarded at a Rules Quiz and Buffet at Hare House in the evening at 7:00 p.m. Sign-up at either the Green Bottle or Hare House. The buffet is free for players in the Rules Invitational and there will be prizes for the best quiz results. The Rules of Golf are there to help you - come and find out how!

The other highlight of the month will be the Delaney’s inaugural Irish Open, organised by Delaney’s and PSC Golf, at Rayong Green Valley on Friday October 2nd. Sign-up for this at Delaney’s.

More details of both these events can be seen in Pattaya Mail, at PSC Golf venues,
and on our web page at www.pattayasports.org.

Updated every Friday
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright 1998 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Created by Andy Gombaz, assisted by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek.