Takraw joy and heartbreak for Thailand

The battle for supremacy between Asia’s two sepak takraw powerhouses ended in disappointment for Thailand, as the kingdom’s men’s team — seven-time defending Asian Games champions — lost 2-0 to arch-rivals Malaysia in the gold medal match at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Friday.

Malaysia got the better of their rivals in the discipline to claim their first Asian Games gold medal in 36 years, with their Team A winning 2-1 (15-9, 5-15, 15-11) and Team B prevailing 2-0 (15-13, 15-10), shattering Thailand’s hopes of a sweep of the four events they entered in Nagoya.

The day started with the Thai takraw squad hoping for a golden double and the women’s stars delivered an outstanding performance to retain their crown, defeating South Korea 2-0 in the final at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Gymnasium, clinching the sixth gold for the Thai contingent.

Team A of Nipaporn Salupphon, Masaya Duangsri and Wilaiwan Khodphom won 2-0 (15-13, 15-5), while Team B of Kaewjai Pumsawangkaew, Athikan Kongkaew, and Ratsamee Thongsod also triumphed 2-0 (15-7, 15-6) as Thailand won the women’s team title for the fifth consecutive time and seventh overall.

There are two more events for the Thai takraw team, including the men’s regu and the women’s quadrant.

The men’s regu competition will begin tomorrow, with Thailand facing the Philippines and Japan in the Group A preliminary round.

The women’s quadrant action will start on Sept 30 and Thailand will face Vietnam in the Group A opener. The Philippines and India are the other two teams in the group.

Weightlifting adds silver

Suratwadee Yodsan produced the third medal for the weightlifting team yesterday, while Thanaporn Saetia narrowly missed out on the podium after finishing in fourth place.

Suratwadee, 23, took silver in the women’s 57kg class, lifting 97kg in the opening snatch discipline and adding 122kg in the clean and jerk for a combined 219kg to take second place.

North Korea’s Oh Kwang Ok took the gold medal (238kg) and Taiwan’s Chen Guang-lin bagged bronze (217kg).

In the women’s 61kg class, Thanaporn had a combined effort of 225kg — 99kg in the snatch and 126kg in the clean and jerk — 12 kilos less than bronze medallist Kuo Hsing-chun of Taiwan.

China’s Yang Liuyue won gold (251kg) and North Korea’s Park Jin Hae took silver (248kg).

Earlier, Surodchana Khambao took bronze in the women’s 53kg event and Theerapong Silachai got bronze in the men’s 60kg event.

Historic kabaddi bronze

There was historic success for the men’s kabaddi team, who claimed their first-ever Asian Games medal, taking home bronze after losing to India 28-66 in the semi-finals.

The women’s 3x3 basketball team failed to make the podium, losing to South Korea 8-21 in the bronze medal match.

In boxing, two Thai fighters progressed to the quarter-finals.

Natnicha Chongprongklang cruised to a commanding 5-0 win over Riza Pasuit of the Philippines in the women’s 54kg round of 16, while Sakda Ruamtham beat Iran’s Daniyal Shahbakhsh 4-1 to also make it to the last eight of the men’s 60kg event.

In badminton, Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun stunned defending champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India with a 12-21, 21-19, 21-14 win in the men’s doubles first round.

Another men’s doubles pair, Worrapol Thongsa-nga and Chaloempon Charoenkitamon, also came through their opener against Laos’ Phonesack Sokthavy and Namboun Luang Amath 21-16, 21-5.

Mixed doubles players Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat won two matches in a day to progress to the quarter-finals, but world No.5 pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran bowed out after losing to Japan’s Maya Taguchi and Yuta Watanabe in the first round.

Water polo breakthrough

The women’s water polo team made history on Thursday night after beating Singapore 12-9 to win bronze — their first-ever Asian Games medal — in a tense battle for the podium that went down to the final match.

The tournament featured six teams competing in a round-robin format, with the best-performing team securing the gold medal and the second and third-placed teams taking home silver and bronze, respectively.

Heading into the final game, Thailand remained in contention for the bronze medal, with Kazakhstan serving as their key rivals. Kazakhstan had previously defeated Thailand in a shootout.

The race for the medal took a dramatic turn in the final round of matches. Kazakhstan lost to Uzbekistan in a shootout, a result that opened the door for the Thai team to overtake Kazakhstan for third place, provided they could defeat Singapore.

The win saw the Thais finish the tournament with a record of two wins in regulation time, one loss via a penalty shootout, and two losses in regulation time. They climbed to third place to secure the bronze medal, while Kazakhstan finished with one win in regulation, one shootout win, one shootout loss, and two losses in regulation.

The gold medal went to China, who edged Japan 19-18 in their final match.