Thailand won one gold and one bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics which ended on Sunday and the country's sporting authorities are looking forward to a better performance at Paris 2004.
The national heroes are taekwondo exponent Panipak Wongpattanakit who took gold in the women's 49kg division and boxer Sudaporn Seesondee who claimed bronze in the women's 60kg class.
Both wrote new chapters in Thailand's sporting history books -- Panipak, 23, is the Kingdom's first-ever Olympic champion in taekwondo and Sudaporn, 29, is the country's first-ever female boxer to win an Olympic medal.
Thailand's sporting bosses breathed a sigh of relief after Panipak was successful early at Tokyo 2020.
The Surat Thani native defeated Spain's Adriana Cerezo Iglesias 11-10 thanks to a last-gasp kick on July 24 -- one day after the opening ceremony.
With her triumph, Thai officials did not have to wait nervously for a gold as the contingent met the country's minimum target of winning at least one title at Tokyo.
Sudaporn's podium finish in her Olympic debut may be just a bonus for them.
The Udon Thani fighter lost 3-2 to top seed and eventual champion Kellie Harrington of Ireland in the semi-finals.
As for Panipak, who had to settle for bronze at Rio 2016, she now has a complete collection of gold medals from all major international events including the Olympics, world championships and Asian Games.
"I am happy that I did it. I waited for this for five years," said Panipak, who is nicknamed 'Tennis'.
Both Panipak and Sudaporn will become rich with millions of baht in rewards.
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Under the National Sports Development's bonus scheme, an Olympic champion will receive 12 million baht, a silver winner 7.2 million baht and a bronze medallist 4.8 million baht.
Also the National Olympic Committee of Thailand gives an Olympic medal winner a monthly salary for 20 years with a gold medallist receiving 12,000 baht, a silver medallist 10,000 baht and a bronze medallist 8,000 baht.
Panipak and Sudaporn will also receive cash rewards from the private sector.
Panipak will get 23.88 million baht and Sudaporn 14.72 million baht.
Sudaporn, a volunteer ranger at the Royal Thai Navy, will also be promoted to become a sub-lieutenant.
Both have also received lucrative sponsorship deals to star in TV commercial and are expected to get more cash rewards and gifts.
'Too few medals'
There were 41 Thai athletes at Tokyo with boxer Thitisan Panmod forced to pull out just weeks before the Games due to a knee injury.
Prior to the 2020 Olympics, the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) predicted that the country would win one to three gold medals at Tokyo.
Using information from sports associations, the SAT made a long list of the country's athletes with chances to win medals.
Among the best hopes were Panipak, golfer Patty (Paphangkorn) Tavatanakit, mixed doubles shuttlers Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, skeet shooter Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit, and boxers Chatchai-decha Butdee and Sudaporn.
The others who had high chances of winning medals were golfer Ariya Jutanugarn, boxers Baison Maneekon and Juthamas Chitrapong, 10,000m runner Kieran Tuntivate, badminton players Ratchanok Intanon and Busanan Ongbamrungphan, and windsurfers Nattapong Phonoparat and Siriporn Kaewduang-ngam.
Thailand brought home two gold, two silver and two bronze medals from the 2016 Olympics with both titles won by weightlifters.
Unfortunately, Thai weightlifters were banned from taking part in Tokyo 2020 due to doping.
With medals from Panipak and Sudaporn, Thailand are still without a golden finish in a sport other than weightlifting, boxing and taekwondo.
Tokyo 2020 was Thailand's worst Olympic campaign since the 1996 Games in Atlanta where boxer Somluck Kamsing won the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal and Vichai Rachanon, also a boxer, took bronze.
This Games also marked the first time in 45 years that Thailand's male athletes finished without a single medal.
Before the 2020 Games, Thai men had won at least one medal in every Olympics since Montreal 1976, when Payao Poontarat became the country's first-ever Olympic medallist with a bronze.
Thailand did not take part in the 1980 Olympics as they joined the US-led boycott of the Moscow Games.
The 2020 Olympics was also the first time since 2000 that Thailand, who finished 59th in the Tokyo medal standings, failed to claim the bragging rights of being the best Southeast Asian nation at the Games.
The Philippines had one gold, two silver and one bronze medals while Indonesia took home one gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
SAT governor Gongsak Yod- mani said he was not satisfied with the performance.
"We won too few medals but we have to thank the athletes for making us happy," he said.
"Looking on the bright side, although we did not have weightlifters at Tokyo, we won two historic medals in taekwondo and boxing. I hope we'll have weightlifters at Paris 2004 as this could boost our chances of winning more medals."
He said female boxers could be Thailand's new medal hopes at the Olympics.
Unsuccessful stars
While Panipak and Sudaporn became successful, others failed to live up to expectations.
Mixed doubles shuttlers Dechapol and Sapsiree were seen as the best bet to secure the country's elusive Olympic medal in badminton.
The duo made history by winning three successive World Tour Super 1000 tournaments on home soil in January.
But they crashed out in the quarter-finals at Tokyo.
Ratchanok, the 2013 world champion, was also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the women's singles after losing to Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying who went on to take silver.
It was another heartbreaking defeat at the Olympics for the 26-year-old star who made her third Games appearance and she was in tears after her loss to Tai.
Against Tai, Ratchanok claimed the first game and raced to a 14-10 lead in the second only for the Taiwanese to stage a comeback for a 2-1 win.
Ratchanok also went out in the quarter-finals at London 2012 in similar fashion.
Golfers Patty and Ariya, both major winners, were virtually out of contention for medals after poor results in the first round.
Patty finished joint 23rd place on 279 in her Olympic debut while Ariya was tied for 43rd for 285 in the 60-player field.
It was another disappointing display by 12-time LPGA Tour winner Ariya, who withdrew in the third round at Rio 2016.
Windsurfers Nattapong and Siriporn were miles away from reaching the finals, while US-base runner Kieran was 23rd in the 25-man 10,000m contest with two athletes failing to finish.
Future is bright?
SAT governor Gongsak and Thailand's chief of delegation Thana Chaiprasit said the country had a bright future in certain sports.
They said among the 41 Thai athletes at Tokyo, 30 were young stars or Olympic debutants.
"I think the overall standards of our athletes were higher," said Thana.
Thana cited table tennis star Suthasini Sawettabut and shooter Isarapa Imprasertsuk as examples.
Suthasini became the first Thai to reach the round of 16 in table tennis and Isarapa finished fourth in the women's skeet -- the best-ever place by a Thai shooter at the Olympics.
"Our athletes gave their all," Thana said. "All participants were well-prepared so it was not easy to win medals."
Gongsak said: "We have to give moral support to those who did not win medals. At the Tokyo Games, we had several athletes who proved they are rising stars and have a bright future."
