On March 8th 2014, PPAO Advisor – Boonserm Suwannarathphoom, acting on behalf of Chief Executive – Paiboon Upattising, presided over the opening of the 13th Meteo Cups Petanque Games (UTU Cups) at the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast). In attendance were Director of SMC – Wiwat Intarapanit, games committee and guests.
In his speech, Mr Wiwat said that the event, now in its 13th year, was collaboration by Phuket Petanque Club, government agencies, private sector and locals. Its aim is to promote health and goodwill among the said agencies and inspire young people to turn to sports and thereby forego drugs. The money raised will be used to fund activities of the SMC Welfare Office.
The games are classified into three divisions, with winners in each division receiving a trophy and over 30,000 baht prize money. Around 60 teams enter the competition each year.
Mr Wiwat continued to say that the support of the local agencies, both government and private, are invaluable in raising the sports standard of the community. He cited the example of Tanakorn Sangkaew, son of SMC staff Sopon Sangkaew, who won gold medals (single and team) at the 2013 Petanque World Championship (Junior) in France. Having beaten the world record, Tanakorn was named “Shooting Asia” and “Junior Shooting World” at the same event. This sportsperson now represents Thailand in many petanque competitions.
Mr Boonserm thanked all partied who helped organized these games. He reiterated Mr Wiwat’s statement about the aims of the 13th SMC games to promote health, inspire young people to take up sports, raise excellence among young competitors and forge goodwill between agencies. He concluded by saying that the annual games is credited with bringing fame to Phuket having produced such an outstanding sport personality as Tanakarn.