Thai queen wins SEA Games gold in sailing

AFP | Bangkok

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The queen of Thailand yesterday won a gold medal in sailing at the Southeast Asian Games, a regional competition being held in her country this month.

Queen Suthida, the wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, competed in the mixed keelboat SSL47 category, on a 47- foot (14-metre) 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.

King Vajiralongkorn, 73, presented gold, silver and bronze medals to the winners Thursday evening -- including to Suthida, whom he married in 2019.

Her team, dressed in matching black sailing attire, celebrated earlier aboard their boat with cheers, while one sailor waved the Thai national flag. A communications graduate, 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 2:13:40 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 December 9 in Bangkok.

Suthida is not the first member of the royal family to win gold in sailing.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the father of Vajiralongkorn, sailed in the fourth edition of the regional Games, held in Thailand in 1967.