“Pikon” is a useful Tagalog word meaning something like “bad loser”. There is no direct equivalent in English and I wonder whether there is one in Thai:
Surapong Suebwonglee, the chief government spokesperson in Bangkok, said many Thais were surprised at the judging as they watched the region's version of the Olympics on television."From live telecasts to slow motion replays, we can clearly tell there are serious problems with judging standards in some sports," Surapong told reporters.
Like Thai Prime Minister Thaksin before him, Surapong offered little evidence to support his allegations of “serious problems”:
Many Thais have felt discontent because after watching some of the events shown live on television, the events Thais lost had been frequently replayed, allowing mistakes in judging decisions to be seen, Surapong said.Among the examples he cited were the final of the men's 5,000 meters run which was marred by blocking.
However, the Inquirer points out that:
Surapong did not say that the Filipino runner involved in the blocking incident was disqualified and the gold was awarded to the Thai runner.
One reason for this whingeing may be that the Thais are trying to put pressure on the boxing judges. Most amateur boxing bouts are decided on points and there is nearly always controversy over some of the judging. The Philippines and Thailand are the major boxing nations in South-east Asia, and the Thais may be serving notice to the judges that there will be objections if they are influenced by the home fans.
On the other hand, perhaps it is just that the Thais, who like to think of themselves as the most powerful nation in the Mekong delta, and even in South-east Asia, are miffed that they are so far behind the Philippines in the medal table (45 golds to the Philippines’ 69). Their childish complaining is about as good an example of pikon behaviour as you can get.
Maybe the thais are turning into the koreans of SE Asia-- poor sports, bad losers complete with bad temperaments. I remember when korean basketball teams would come over to manila to play 'friendship matches', and they would actually get into fistfights with our players, the host country. Imagine that. That's when people started to refer to koreans as a 'vulgar version of the japanese'.
Whatever it is, i hope the whingeing thais get their butts kicked in these SEA Games. Wankers.
Posted by: gonzo | December 02, 2005 at 06:18 PM
Muya Thai as an Olympic game?
Posted by: Thai Radio | January 13, 2007 at 04:53 AM