A big pay day awaits Thai cyclists if they win gold medals at the Asian Games.
Gen Decha Hemkrasee, president of the Thai Cycling Association, said that apart from the two-million-baht cash reward from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), a Jakarta gold medal winner will receive an additional one-million-baht bonus from the sport body.
A silver medallist will receive additional 500,000 baht and a bronze medallist 300,000 baht extra from the TCA, he added.
The NSDF has announced a 100% hike in Asian Games incentives with a gold medal winner now receiving two million baht, silver one million baht and bronze 500,000 baht.
"These cash bonuses are just what the athletes deserve if they could win medals at the Asian Games," said Decha. "They have been giving their all in training for the past nine months."
The road cycling team will be the first to fly out to Indonesia on Wednesday. They will train at the actual venue in Subang.
The mountain bike team, who will also compete in Subang, will jet off two days later.
The BMX team, which are currently training in Australia, and the track cycling squad, who are in the United States, will travel to Indonesia on Aug 23 and 25 respectively.
Both events will take place in Jakarta.
Unfortunately, Thai BMX hope Varanya Sae-tae has been forced to pull out of the Games after she suffered an injury while competing at an event in Australia and has been replaced by Chamawee Kerdmanee.
Meanwhile Decha admitted that Thailand's medal chance in the track cycling is slim.
"Our records have improved during training in Los Angeles, but we'll have a very tough time competing against world-class athletes from China, Japan, South Korea, Iran and Malaysia."
However he believed Thailand have some hope in omnium events.
"In the men's event, Pathompob Polarjthan, who has been training in Colorado Springs, has improved a lot both physically and tactically. While, in the women's team, Jutatip Maneephan is our top prospect but she will face a strong competition from Japan, Malaysia and China."
