Competitors who gathered in northern Nan province defied age stereotypes and the searing sun in the government-backed sporting event, organised to promote an active lifestyle among seniors as Thailand tries to stave off an ageing crisis.

“I saw many people my age ailing in bed and I didn’t want to be like that. So I began to exercise,” the spry Sawang told AFP after setting a record of 15.3 metres in the javelin throw — albeit as the sole competitor in his 95-99 age category.

Back in his hometown in eastern Thailand, he has watched as his less active peers “all passed away,” the former school principal explained with a wry chuckle.

Thailand’s population is getting older, and fast, posing risks to the middle-income country’s social and medical services as well as its economic productivity.

By 2031, the percentage of the population over 60 is expected to nearly double to 28 percent, according to the National Economic and Social Development Board.

“Now Thailand is a fully-fledged ageing society it’s the right time and place to hold these activities,” Nattavuth Ruengves, deputy governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, told AFP on the sidelines of the competition.

The event, which concludes Friday, aims to boost healthcare among seniors, with the added social draw of competitors enjoying the opportunity to meet friends.

Body-building and ballroom dancing

Held in an outdoor sports complex, the atmosphere was festive, with cheering crowds and athletes helping each other after they crossed the finish line.

“It doesn’t matter if I get a medal or not, I feel happy to see friends competing together,” said Duangpee Sansing, the 81-year-old winner of a 400-metre race.

“I am not that tired because I am happy,” she told AFP as she hugged a friend and fellow runner.

The seven-day event drew more than 1,000 athletes from across the country.

They battled it out in sports as far apart as football, body building and ballroom dancing to sepak takraw, a traditional volleyball game in which players use their feet instead of hands.

The age groups competing ranged from those approaching middle age to Sawang’s bracket, 95 to 99.

The 98-year-old participated in an unofficial version of the event organised last year by the Senior Citizens Council.

He also represented Thailand at a regional elderly games held in China last year where he broke a record for the shot-put, according to his daughter.

Determined to excel again this time around, he has stayed in shape with a daily walking regimen.

Although his athletic prowess helped him blitz his rivals with a 24.59 second dash to claim the 100-metres, Sawang said the event was more about camaraderie than crowing.

“I want to be here to meet many friends and most of the athletes here are nice and helpful — it makes me feel warm inside,” he said.

“I feel proud.”

Djokovic had been on course to meet Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals but a disjointed display gave his second round opponent Martin Klizan, ranked 140th in the world, a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory.

World number one Nadal endured no such problems against compatriot Roberto Carballes Baena, winning 6-4, 6-4.

While Klizan goes through to meet Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in the last 16, Djokovic will now have to reset, with the French Open next month fast approaching.

“You can work very hard on the practice courts but when you get into matches it’s completely different,” Djokovic told reporters afterwards.

“I haven’t had too many matches in the last 12 months so it’s a lack of match-play and a lack of these kinds of situations.”

His latest setback is not the shock it once might have been.

After losing in the Australian Open fourth round in January, Djokovic underwent surgery to correct an injury to his right elbow, which had been troubling him for almost two years.

The problem has coincided with a prolonged slump in form for the 12-time major champion, who has reached only one Grand Slam final since winning the French Open in 2016.

But a reunion with long-time coach Marian Vajda this month had sparked hopes Djokovic could yet steer his career back on track.

“Definitely I expect higher from myself,” Djokovic said. “It’s tough to deal with this kind of loss and these sorts of matches.”

Slovakia’s Martin Klizan 

There were encouraging signs in Monte Carlo last week, despite a three-set defeat to Dominic Thiem, with the Serb declaring there he was finally playing without pain.

He was well below his best against Klizan, however, as the Slovak claimed his first victory against a top-20 opponent in just over two years.

Nadal is going for his 11th Barcelona title this week and while the top seed looked comfortable against Carballes Baena, he was not impressed with his own performance.

“I did not play well at all,” Nadal said. “But it was important to win and tomorrow there is another opportunity to improve the level.”

The 31-year-old will now face another Spaniard in Guillermo Garcia Lopez, who progressed after Kei Nishikori retired.

Nishikori had lost to Nadal in the Monte Carlo Masters final on Sunday and he pulled out after conceding the first set to Garcia-Lopez 6-3.

Fatigue, and pain in his troublesome right wrist, appeared to prompt the withdrawal from Japan´s world number 22, who told reporters after the match: “I started feeling discomfort again during the first set and I did not want to take any risks.”

It completes a double setback for Asian players as Chung Hyeon, the South Korean who was a surprise semi-finalist at this year’s Australian Open, withdrew before play in Barcelona even began.

The 22-year-old came off the bench to finish a counter-attack and complete the holders’ comeback win, giving Real the advantage for the return game in Madrid next Tuesday.

“We knew what to expect, we did well and put in a good performance,” said Real captain Sergio Ramos.

“There is still the return to come, but we’ll be very focused and we defended well, that was the main thing.”

Bayern took the lead at the sold-out Allianz Arena through Joshua Kimmich, but Marcelo equalised just before the break and Asensio put Real ahead.

“In the middle of the first half, we were playing well, but we lacked the killer instinct,” said Bayern skipper Thomas Mueller.

“Everything is still possible, but we did ourselves no favours today.”

Despite Bayern dominating possession and creating twice as many chances as Real, Madrid claimed a sixth straight win, dating back to 2012, over the Bavarians in the Champions League knockout stage.

“We didn’t put our chances away, while Real took their two chances,” said Kimmich.

“We were naive in front of goal, they are favourites now to go through, but we will give it our all in the return.”

Real coach Zinedine Zidane pulled a surprise before kick-off by leaving both Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema out of the starting line-up.

Isco, who was replaced by Asensio at half-time, and Lucas Vazquez played either side of Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a subdued night up front in Munich.

The Portuguese failed to add to his tally of 15 Champions League goals this season, being denied a second-half strike by an offside flag, which would have made it 3-1.

James Rodriguez, who is on a two-year loan deal from Real, shone in Bayern’s midfield and found plenty of cracks in the Madrid defenceใ

– Bayern hit by injuries –

However, this just was not Bayern’s night.

Both Mueller and Robert Lewandowski went agonisingly close with a string of chances.

The hosts suffered a blow with barely five minutes gone when Arjen Robben limped off to be replaced by Thiago Alcantara.

Bayern changed their system with right-back Joshua Kimmich moving up to plug the space on the right wing, which sparked the opening goal.

When Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich played the ball down the flank, James released Kimmich with a perfectly-timed pass in the 28th minute.

The Germany international raced clear and caught out Keylor Navas at his near post to stun Real.

Bayern suffered their second early injury blow when Jerome Boateng was replaced by Niklas Suele on 34 minutes — which is also bad news for Germany with the World Cup looming.

Real had a left-off when Ribery went one-on-one with Navas, but stumbled at the crucial moment.

Then from nothing, Marcelo conjured the equaliser on 44 minutes.

When Dani Carvajal headed the ball across the edge of the box, it landed at Marcelo’s feet and was in Bayern’s net moments later after a fierce left-footed shot.

It was the Brazilian’s third Champions League goal this season after also scoring in the knock-out rounds against Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

Real escaped again when Navas failed to hold a Lewandowski header just before the half-time whistle and the ball bobbled away to safety.

It shows how far Bale and Benzema have dropped out of Zidane’s favour that Isco was replaced on the left wing by Asensio for the second half, but the move paid off.

Rafinha lost the ball in midfield after a Bayern attack, and Vazquez sprinted clear and put Asensio into space to curl past Ulreich on 57 minutes.

With 25 minutes left, Zidane threw on an extra attacker, as Benzema came on for injured right-back Carvajal.

Moments later Bayern came within inches of an equaliser when Navas denied Mueller with a reflex save.

In the final five minutes, Lewandowski beat Navas, but his floated shot flew just wide of the post to add to Bayern’s misery.

The teams will compete in Thailand for the very first time from May 9 -12 2018 in Bangkok with the final two days of the tournament being staged in front of a live audience at Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Hall 106.

As an Official Valve Corporation sanctioned Pro Circuit Minor, the tournament will feature some of eSport’s top names, as well as one Thai team who will represent the country at the tournament. All nine teams will battle it out for the biggest prize purse in the country, at around THB 9,350,000 (USD 300,000), as well as Dota Pro Circuit Points (DPC points) to the prestigious Dota World Championships ‘The International’ held in Vancouver in 2018

The full line-up includes:

·         Direct Invite – Team Secret: Perhaps the most highly anticipated team in the event. The Europe-based team is ranked third on current DPC standings, and has won a string of titles, including first place in 2017’s DreamLeague Season 8 and 2016’s Shanghai Major. Their team is led by Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov, one of the most prolific and storied captains in Dota.

·         Championship Invite – Evil Geniuses: US-based pros who won 2017’s Manila Masters and 2016’s Mars Dota 2 League 2016 Autumn. They were unbeaten throughout the entire GESC Indonesia tournament, taking home the trophy as well as THB 3,444,055 (USD 110,000) and 150 DPC points. Sumail ‘Suma1L’ Syed Hassan, one of the team members, was named in Time Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016.

·         SEA Qualifier – Fnatic: Malaysia-based team (featuring players like Jacky ‘EternaLEnVy’ Mao and Saahil ‘UNiVeRsE’ Arora) with excellent results in the recent Dreamleague Season 9 and The Summit 8, finishing second in both

·         CIS Qualifier  – Vega Squadron: Vega Squadron boasts up-and-coming players who have posted good results in recent months qualifying from the CIS region for MDL Major and GESC Thailand

·         N. America Qualifier – VGJ Storm: Relatively new on the Dota scene, VGJ Storm features prominent player Roman ‘Resolut1on’ Fominok. The team is endorsed and co-owned by basketball star Jeremy Lin.

·         S. American Qualifier – SG e-Sports: Came first in the Pichau Masters 2017 and is the first Brazilian team to participate in a major tournament – the Kiev Major in 2017

·         Europe Qualifier – The Final Tribe: An up-and-coming European team, based in Sweden who also qualified for GESC Indonesia.

·         China Qualifier – Keen Gaming: A new team from China, formed from previously youth teams of the legendary Chinese Dota 2 organisation EHome

·         Thailand Qualifier – Alpha Red: Winners of the Thailand Wild Card Open Qualifiers and also the first Thai team ever to play on the international Pro Circuit

GESC has also lined up the best international and up-and-coming Thai casters for the tournament. Xyclopz (Treeephob ‘Tiangtrong), Cyberclasher (Kitiphat Kanjanapiphat), Lakoi (Siraphob Ratanaprateepkorn) and Arifeen (Arifeen Charawee) as well as Discotech (Sornsak Seangsong) will be part of the Thai language broadcast. The list of seasoned international talent includes ‘Sheever’ (Jorien van der Heijden), ‘ODPixel’ (Owen Davies), ‘Fogged’ (Ioannis Loucas), ‘Capitalist’ (Austin Walsh), ‘GoDz’ (David Parker), ‘Nahaz’ (Alan Bester), ‘Purge’ (Kevin Godec) and more.

Oskar Feng, Chief Executive Officer of GESC said: “This first Valve-sanctioned event in Thailand saw over 100 teams battle it out for the ‘Wild Card’ spot in the Thailand Qualifier. We’re hugely impressed with the talent we’ve discovered here and are really excited by the huge response from Thai fans who have been buying tickets in their droves and engaging with the qualifying rounds via the live-streaming. With top talent, including Team Secret and Evil Geniuses competing in the Championship, we’re looking forward to a really high energy event!”

The winning team will receive USD 110,000 plus 150 DPC points, second place will receive prize money of USD 65,000 plus 90 DPC points and the third placed and fourth team will receive USD 35,000 plus 30 DPC points. The fifth and sixth placed team will receive prize money of USD 15,500 whilst the seventh to ninth placed teams receive USD 8,000.

Two-day tickets to GESC Thailand Dota 2 Minor are currently on sale. Earlybird tickets have sold out but Advanced tickets are still available at THB 1,800 for VIP tickets (including access to team autograph signing sessions, a goodie bag and seats in the team walk-in area) and THB 750 for regular tickets. To purchase, please go tohttp://bit.ly/GESCThailandTickets.

GESC Thailand Dota 2 Minor is sponsored by True Online (Official Internet Sponsor), Novotel Bangkok Bangna (Official Hotel) GRAB (Official Transport), and Neolution eSports (Official Gaming Chair). The four-day tournament will be live-streamed by in Thai language on Twitch. English live streams will be available on Twitch, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

For more information, please visit official website www.geschampionship.com or Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GESChampionshipTH.

Taking place at the Jakarta Convention Center, ONE: GRIT AND GLORY features a highly-anticipated strawweight championship rematch between newly-minted division kingpin Alex Silva and Yoshitaka Naito as its headliner.

Both men initially crossed paths this past December when Silva shocked the world by dethroning Naito for the ONE Strawweight World Championship by unanimous decision.

“I was very emotional and excited. I talked to my cornermen after every round, and they said I was doing okay and doing good, so I was pretty confident I would be the winner. I was very emotional and happy by the time they announced my name as the winner,” Silva recalled.

Silva wrapped the coveted gold-plated strap around his waist following a dominant striking performance, unveiling a new dimension to his evolving skillset by putting together dynamic combinations.

Figuring in an offensive clinic against his Japanese counterpart, Silva overwhelmed Naito from the beginning of the bout, peppering his opponent with lashing leg kicks and rocking right hands.

Although Silva had the upper hand in the first three rounds of the championship clash, he had to overcome a spirited performance from Naito, who did his best effort to wear down the Brazilian challenger in the last two periods of the contest.

Relying on his exquisite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background, Silva managed to defend Naito’s grappling advances to walk out of the Impact Arena with the unanimous decision victory and the prestigious ONE Strawweight World Championship in his possession.

“I am very happy about my performance because people usually see me as a grappling guy. I know my skills, and I know I can strike. Because I was competing in Thailand, I wanted to put on a good show for people, so I came up with this plan to strike with him,” Silva bared.

“I was having fun with my striking. I would just keep all the rounds striking. I wanted to show I could strike. I think it is going to be good for my future. I want people to see I am more than just a grappler. I want people to see I am a complete martial artist,” he added.

The 35-year-old submission specialist from Brazil seeks to accomplish an encore performance against Naito, who has been handed a golden opportunity to win back the title he once called his and against the only man to ever defeat him.

“He was the champion for a good reason. He is tough as nails. Giving up is not his style. But with all due respect, I am determined to keep my belt. I am confident of my skills. My martial arts, my grappling, my conditioning – all of that makes me confident,” Silva stated.

Silva respects his opponent’s skillset and is quick to offer that Natio’s ground game remains as his best attribute.

“I can’t be complacent against Yoshitaka Naito. He has a great ground game. Plus, he has a big heart. Even I if I won the first encounter, this match on May 12th is going to be a tough one,” he explained.”

As he expects another tough encounter with Naito at ONE: GRIT AND GLORY, Silva seeks to take his championship stature to the next level.

“I do not want to just be the world champion. I want to be the best ever in this division. I work hard, I have the discipline, and I have everything on my side to do it. I have a good team around me, I have the dedication, I have the skills, and I am hungry. So that is my new goal, to become the best athlete to ever compete in this division,” he ended.