National petanque coach
Somsak Juychunprasert (R)
watching over a recent
training session. The
country's abundance of
talent in the sport has
made it easier for the
Thai to choose players.
Picture: BT/Ak Fauzi Pg
Salleh
National petanque coach Somsak Juychunprasert is looking forward to break in some new players at the Asian Petanque Championship in Bali, Indonesia, in October.
"We have a lot of players now so it is not going to be a problem chosing players for the tournament," said Somsak in an interview with The Brunei Times on Monday.
"We have a lot of young and new faces in the team and they are very good and talented, so I can always choose who will be going to compete in Indonesia.
"But first I would like to know if we are going to compete at the SEA (Southeast Asian) Games in December so that I can divide the teams.
"I'd like to have two different sets of teams for the two tournaments.
"If we are going to the SEA Games, I will probably send the young players to the Asian Petanque Championship while the senior players will focus on the SEA Games," added the Thai.
According to national captain Mazlan Hj Yahya, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, Chinese Taipei, Madagascar are among the teams that will be joining the rest of the ASEAN countries at the October 20-27 tournament in Bali
Brunei's best achievement was winning silver in the triples event during the 2009 edition.
The country reached the last eight the past three years.
Mazlan and the rest of the team are currently undergoing intensive training with the hope of winning a ticket to the SEA Games.
"We are still waiting for an answer from the management regarding this," said Somsak.
"I hope that we can sort this thing out there is not much time left the neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Vetnam have prepared for this tournaments for many months."
