Thai queen wins SEA Games gold in sailing
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Queen Suthida, the wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, competed in the mixed keelboat SSL47 category.
PHOTO: THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Follow topic:
BANGKOK - The queen of Thailand on Dec 18 won a gold medal in sailing at the SEA Games, a regional competition being held in her country.
Queen Suthida, the wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, competed in the mixed keelboat SSL47 category, on a 14m sailboat with nine other crew members.
The queen, 47, served as tactician and helmswoman to lead the Thai team to victory in the waters off Pattaya, ahead of Malaysia and Myanmar.
Her gold medal is to be presented to her on Dec 18 by King Vajiralongkorn, 73, whom she married in 2019.
A communications graduate, Queen Suthida worked as a flight attendant for Thai Airways before embarking on a career in the military.
A keen athlete, she ran a half marathon in 2h 13mins 40s this month in the capital Bangkok alongside Kenyan running legend Eliud Kipchoge.
The queen led the Thai delegation at the opening ceremony of the SEA Games on Dec 9 in Bangkok.
She is not the first member of the royal family to win gold in sailing.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the father of current King Vajiralongkorn, sailed in the fourth edition of the regional Games, held in Thailand in 1967.
Competing in the OK class on a boat he built himself, King Bhumibol won a gold medal alongside his eldest daughter, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, according to the SEA Games website.
The SEA Games end on Dec 20, with host Thailand well ahead in the medal count, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.
Eleven countries were initially scheduled to take part, but Cambodia withdrew for security reasons after a border conflict with the host country reignited days before the opening ceremony. AFP
