The 24-year-old rider redeemed his pride after finishing at 108th in the Khao Yai’s hilly stage in Khao Yai which was not his favourite.

Day four of the race covered a distance of  183.40 km, staring from scenic Khao Yai to the  Suranaree Monument in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

However, after this stage, Dyball Benjamin of ST. George Continental Cycling Team from Australia still led the overall standing with the best time of 16.39.57 hours.

Malaysia’s Saleh Modh Zamri of Terengganu Cycling Team grabbed the” Best ASEAN Rider” award in the fourth stage after timing 4.08.56 hours. Previously Thais had dominate this category for thee consecutive days by Sarawut Sirironnachai of Thailand Continental Cycling Team, Keerati Sukprasart (Thailand National Team) and Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn (Thailand Continental Cycling Team) respectively.

In addition, Thailand Continental Cycling Team which took the second  place of Team General Classification, led the team general classification of ASEAN with 50.06.47 hours ahead of KFC Cycling Team(Indonesua) and 7ELEVEN CLIQQ ROADBIKE PHILIPPINES.

The fifth stage on 5 April 2018 covers the longest distance of 229 kilometers starting from Nakhon Ratchasima province at am and will finish in Roi Et province.

Speaking yesterday to a Bangkok gathering of the Olympic Committee of Thailand in his capacity as its president, Prawit said he believed the athletes would better their performance at the 2014 Games in South Korea, where Thailand clinched 12 golds.

“Asian Games athletes have been selected and have been training continuously without any problems. We hope they will perform better this year,” said Prawit.

Thailand’s gold medal hopes in the 18th episode of the Games rest with sepak takraw, weightlifting, taekwondo, boxing, badminton, sailing and golf. The Kingdom’s best ever performance was at the 1998 edition in Bangkok, with 24 gold medals won.

Prawit added that Bangkok would this month see a visit from International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, who will attend the SportAccord Convention taking place from April 15-20. Bach will also observe national athletes train at the Sports Authority of Thailand, and Prawit is expected to take the opportunity to discuss with him the possibility of Thailand hosting the Youth Olympic Games in 2022.

IOC member Pattama Leeswadtrakul announced yesterday a festival to promote some 15 demonstration sports would be held in front of Bangkok’s CentralWorld mall from April 17-19.

“This is a chance for Thailand to prove that we can host a big international event, which can pave the way for us to organise bigger sporting events in the future,” said Pattama, also the Thai Badminton Association president.

Meanwhile, Prawit said Thailand was close to signing a deal with Fifa to broadcast the World Cup from Russia in June. He added that the TV channels offering free broadcast of the football tournament for Thai fans would be revealed this week.

Zulia FC said it had “definitively expelled” midfielder David Barreto and defender Eduin Quero amid public outrage over the video. Quero was a member of the Venezuela squad that reached the final of the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.

The club said the two players had been “definitively expelled for violating the internal regulations of the club by carrying out actions that undermine the values of this institution.”

It had earlier said the pair had been suspended pending further disciplinary measures.

Animal rights NGO Asodepa said Quero had published the images of his team-mate Barreto “committing a cruel act of mistreatment towards an innocent kitten.”

Asodepa said a sequence of images published on social media shows Barreto raising the cat and stretching its limbs amid laughter, then throwing the animal to the ground.

“What will fans think of them now, knowing that there is a clear link between animal abuse and the mistreatment of people,” the rights group said.

The club said it would recommend the players for “psychological evaluation” as well as other measures to “redirect their behaviour”.

With the Pyeongchang Olympics closed and the torch passing to Tokyo, organisers stress that the games are now back on track and construction on schedule.

Here are five key moments in Tokyo’s rocky Olympic road.

– Tears of joy –

TV news presenters broke down in tears and thousands of people erupted in screams of delight when the IOC awarded the games to Tokyo in September 2013.

With emotions running high, the thoughts of many Japanese turned to the thousands of victims of a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, with the Olympics eyed as a golden opportunity to rebuild.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Tokyo would be a “safe pair of hands”, with a reputation for efficiency and competence.

– Stadium shock –

Unfortunately, that reputation for efficiency quickly went out of the window as Abe was forced to tear up blueprints for the proposed national stadium as costs ballooned out of control.

“I have decided we must go back to the drawing board,” a red-faced Abe said in July 2015, amid public anger over its $2 billion price tag — which would have made it the world’s most expensive stadium.

The decision also affected the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which was due to host the final in the stadium. That match will now be played in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

The stadium was designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016.

– Logo larceny –

More embarrassment followed in September 2015 as organisers had to ditch the logo for the Games amid accusations of plagiarism and questions about the designer’s credibility.

Belgian designer Olivier Debie said the original design was swiped from his logo for a theatre in Liege, western Belgium and vowed to take the issue to court.

As the scandal mounted, officials were forced to withdraw the logo, saying it “no longer has public support.”

In April 2016, Tokyo 2020 unveiled a new “snake-eye” logo with roots in feudal Japan.

However, even this event did not run smoothly as the winning design was apparently leaked to the local media well ahead of the official announcement.

– Venue relief –

After the setbacks came a welcome piece of positive news in November 2017 as Tokyo unveiled its first new permanent venue.

The Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, which will host badminton and modern pentathlon fencing, was the first of eight new permanent venues to be completed.

The 10,000-seat venue cost an estimated $300 million and will also host wheelchair basketball at the 2020 Paralympics.

It also contains a swimming pool, gym and fitness studios available for use by the general public and is part-powered by solar energy.

– Mascot madness –

In the wake of the logo disaster, there was a palpable sense of relief after the smooth rollout of two futuristic mascots for the Olympics and Paralympics — chosen this time by schoolchildren across the country.

The Olympic mascot, which has yet to be named, is a blue-checked, doe-eyed character with pointy ears and useful “special powers” that enable it “to move anywhere instantaneously.”

Its Paralympic counterpart sports pink checks derived from Japan’s famous cherry blossoms and is “usually calm, however, it gets very powerful when needed”.

Their unveiling was massive news in mascot-mad Japan, and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said the selection would build “momentum” and “excitement” towards the opening ceremony.

.The Tuesday’s third stage of “The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Cup Tour of Thailand 2018” with the distance of 177.70 km , started from Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province at 9am and finished at Khao Yai National Park.

Benjamin won this stage in  4.16.52 hours and became the overall  leader to wear the pink jersey.

In the meantime, Keerati  Sukprasart of the Thailand’s national team, grabbed  the “Best ASEAN Rider” . award after timing  4.19.02  hours.  However,  Sarawut Sirironnachai of Thailand Continental Cycling Team is still overall leader of ASEAN after three stages with the time of 12.33.10 hours.

Moreover,  Thailand Continental Cycling Team have won the best ASEAN team for the third day in a row with the time of 37.39.59 hours followed by KFC Cycling Team(Indonesia) and 7ELEVEN-CLIQQ ROADBIKE Philippines.

The fourth stage will start at Khao Yai National Park at 9 am and conclude at Suranaree Monument  in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

 NCL Dynamites finished as the highest ranked team in the first round but they were given a fright by the Tom Cats as Faisal took a hat-trick and scored 30 runs as the local Chiang Mai player had the day of his life.

St Francis de Sales were second ranked, Kashmir Thunder third and UN Irish Pub fourth as all four sides completed three victories in the first round. Divine Felons and Bristol also qualified for the Cup which gets under way at 1.10 pm on Wednesday.

Yorkshire Puddings, Margate, Stray Cats, Got the Runs, Lords Taverners and NCL Masters will compete in the Shield with the first match scheduled for 2.20 pm.

The Gentlemen’s Section will be completed on Wednesday as teams qualify for the Bowl, Vase, Plate and Spoon and the tournament barbecue will be held early on Wednesday evening with two pigs provided by STEC and plenty more delicious food with the Rasta Cafe Band provide the entertainment.

The Chinese side got the first goal in the 20^th minute when  Zheng Long,  assisted by Ricardo Goulart, blast a shot from outside the box to the top left corner.

During the injury time, the home team found the equalizer when  Yoo Jun-Su (Buriram United) fired a  shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.

Guangzhou still remain atop of the group with nine points while Buriram is at third with six points. The Thai team still have the chance to move into the next round if they finish second in the group.

Buriram will next face Jeju United at the Jeju World Cup Stadium on March 17.

“Top of the Gulf Regatta has always viewed sailing as a sport for all and since year one we have supported youth sailing with Optimist and dinghy classes in the regatta. We will again host the Thailand Optimist National Championships which is the pinnacle of competitive youth sailing in the country, and will this year have a demonstration of the SV14, a boat built in Thailand and designed especially to be sailed by people with disabilities. Together with Ocean Marina Yacht Club we are supporting this initiative by Disabled Sailing Thailand and hope to give people with disabilities the opportunity to sail and perhaps in the future the chance to compete in the Paralympics. We believe making the sport more accessible is key to growing sailing in the country,” commented Mr. William Gasson, Co-Chairman of the Top of the Gulf Regatta Organising Committee.

Regatta co-founder and host, Ocean Marina Yacht Club is the regatta’s permanent home and as South East Asia’s largest marina facility it provides a convenient and safe base from which to organise a regatta of this size and diversity. Upto 12 classes of boats are expected this year including keelboats and multihulls, one-design Platus competing for the Platu Coronation Cup, a series of dinghy classes, Optimists competing in the Thailand Optimist National Championships, and for the second consecutive year the IOM Class of radio controlled boats.

Competitors are coming from as far afield as Australia, Japan and the UK, to name just a few of the more than 25 countries that will be taking part this year. Taking place prior to the Asian Games in Jakarta in August, many countries are sending their national teams and Olympic sailors to compete, including Thailand who will have their full national sailing squad racing in preparation for the regional championships.

“We are looking forward to a strong line-up of international and Thai sailors, and expect more than 200 boats and over 600 sailors in total this year. The one-design Platu class has a very high level of sailing talent as do the keelboat and multihull classes with many sailors from Singapore, Hong Kong and beyond coming to compete at the regatta,” added Mr. Gasson.

A two-week tour will start with a match against Mexican side Club America in the Phoenix University Stadium, Arizona, on July 19, with Jose Mourinho’s men facing Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes — a team United great George Best played for — in Santa Clara three days later.

A United statement added details regarding additional warm-up games in the States would be “announced soon”.

“The tour is a central part of the team’s preparation for a long and intense campaign and this is the second consecutive year that we will travel to the US,” said United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

“The club, manager and team always receive a great welcome when visiting America, with our millions of US fans always keen to get closer to Manchester United.”

Since 2010, five visits to the US have seen United welcome more than 1.3 million supporters to games, including over 109,000 fans to see a win over reigning European champions Real Madrid at the ‘Big House’ (the University of Michigan stadium) in Ann Arbor in 2014 –- a record crowd for a football match in the United States.

Manchester United are currently second in the Premier League table but are still a massive 16 points behind leaders Manchester City, with the FA Cup, where they face Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals, the only realistic chance Mourinho’s men now have of winning a major trophy this season.

City can clinch the title as soon as Saturday by beating local rivals United at the Etihad Stadium.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice on Sunday before passing up the chance of a Premier League hat-trick by allowing substitute Alexandre Lacazette to mark his return from injury with a goal from the penalty spot as Arsenal sealed a 3-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium.

England midfielder Wilshere captained Arsenal to a fourth successive win in all competitions that set Arsene Wenger’s men up for their crunch first-leg clash against CSKA in London on Thursday.

“We needed that 90 minutes out of the way,” he added. “We needed to get the three points, move on and keep the momentum going. We’ve won a few in a row and wanted to keep that going. Now we’ve got a big one on Thursday and we’re ready for that.”

Arsenal scored all their goals in the last 15 minutes.

“Sometimes it’s like that after an international break, it takes 45 minutes to blow the cobwebs off,” Wilshere said. “I think in the second half we tried to up it and as the game went on, they got tired, we upped it and our attacking play was too much for them.”

With the Gunners 13 points off the top-four Premier League finish that would see them into the Champions League, the only realistic way they can return to Europe’s elite club competition is by winning the second-string Europa League.

“It’s a big game,” said Wilshere looking ahead to CSKA.