Chinese School - Thai athlete to run naked after prayer answered

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Thai athlete to run naked after prayer answered

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-12-15 21:43

BANGKOK, Dec 15 - A Thai Asian Games gold medallist will run around his
training track naked after his prayers were answered as he awaited the
result of a photo-finish.

Sittichai Suwonprateep of Thailand performs the wai, a traditional Thai
greeting, during the award ceremony for the men's 4x100m relay race final
at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 12, 2006. [Reuters]
Sittichai Suwonprateep, who ran the last leg of the men's 4x100 metre
relay final on Tuesday, said he prayed while waiting anxiously for a
decision which ruled he had got to the finish line just ahead of Japan's
Shinji Takahira.

"I didn't know what to do while waiting for the photo result so I just
told all the spirits and sacred objects I worship that if I won I would
run naked," Sittichai told Reuters. "I am not sure if this gold medal was
the result of my ability or the power of the spirits I prayed to," said
the 26-year-old naval officer who won a gold in the same relay in the
2002 Asian Games in Busan.

Making promises to amulets, images or spirits is a common practice among
Thais in largely Buddhist Southeast Asian nation.

But Sittichai declined to say when he would actually run naked.

"I won't tell anyone when I will run. I am embarrassed about what I will
be doing."

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