The 22-year-old midfielder is national coach Milovan Rajevac’s choice after he joined the national team for the AFF Championship earlier this month, where Thailand reached the semi-finals.

The player says he is proud to carry the Thai flag into the quadrennial international men’s football championship, which marks the first time in 12 years that Thailand has reached the Final.

“Seeing my name among the last 23 players again is larger than life. I really feel grateful for this chance given by the coach,” said Sasalak, who has appeared in four international games.

“I’ve been working really hard in order to catch up with the senior players. The atmosphere was very competitive at the training camp for the Asian Cup. By being given this opportunity, I will try to maximise my effort to help the team,” Sasalak said.

The winger also feels the appearances of star players Chanathip Songkrasin, Teerasil Dangda and Theerathon Bunmathan, will make Thailand a force to be reckoned with at the tournament.

“Having them will make us stronger than we were in the AFF Championship. I have already learned so many from them during the training, which is valuable experience,” he added.

The team will leave for the Middle East on Sunday and will play their first game against India on January 6.

The fourth round was also lit up by Thailand’s Naras Luangphetcharaporn, who was staring at another elimination from Qualifying School until his record-breaking 59 lifted him to a share of 36th place.

Despite going through a marathon week which saw 242 players at the start of the final stage vying to finish inside the top-35 and ties through five rounds, Poom was not feeling the effects of any fatigue. Instead, he is raring to get the job done as he leads the class with his four-day total of 20-under-par 264.

Australia’s Zach Murray is also ready to add another feather to his cap in his fledgling professional career as he is among the leading 70 players and ties to have made it into the all-important ultimate round on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Australian only turned professional last month but is already showing an early potential of his prolific form which has led him to be ranked as high as 19th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul is closer to earning his card for the first time in five attempts at Qualifying School as he blazed his way around the Lakeview Resort and Golf Club with rounds of 69, 68, 67 and 67 to tie with China’s Xiao Bowen in seventh place.

Unheralded Veer Ahlawat of India is also ready to join his more illustrious compatriots on the Asian Tour after posting a 68 which saw him share 18th place with Korea’s Kisang Lee.

Leading scores after round 4 of the The Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage 2019 being played at the par 71, 6888 Yards A&B course (am – denotes amateur):

264 – Poom PATTAROPONG (THA) 67-64-68-65.

265 – Zach MURRAY (AUS) 68-64-67-66.

266 – Austen TRUSLOW (USA) 67-66-69-64.

267 – Itthipat BURANATANYARAT (THA) 67-67-70-63.

269 – Tomoharu OTSUKI (JPN) 69-65-66-69.

270 – Sean KELLY (USA) 65-69-70-66.

271 – Gunn CHAROENKUL (THA) 69-68-67-67, XIAO Bowen (CHN) 64-71-66-70.

272 – Matthias JOHANSSON (SWE) 71-66-68-67, Trevor SIMSBY (USA) 71-67-68-66, Teemu PUTKONEN (FIN) 71-67-69-65, Kade MCBRIDE (AUS) 70-69-65-68, Kosuke HAMAMOTO (THA) 64-71-72-65, Clyde MONDILLA (PHI) 71-68-65-68, Mikumu HORIKAWA (JPN) 72-68-64-68, Taewoo KIM (KOR) 64-69-72-67, Christoffer BAUMANN (SWE) 64-68-68-72.

273 – Kisang LEE (KOR) 72-70-62-69, Veer AHLAWAT (IND) 69-66-70-68.

2018 has been an amazing year for world No1 golfer Ariya Jutanugarn, taekwondo exponent Panipak Wongpattanakit and J-League footballer Chanathip Songkrasin. For some sports, however, it’s been a year best quickly forgotten. Here are The Nation’s picks of the biggest sports stories of the past 12 months.

Ariya Jutanugarn ruled over women’s golf, winning her biggest trophy yet – the US Open – and two more LPGA titles: the Kingsmill Championship and Ladies Scottish Open. She then became the first woman in history to clean sweep all the major awards: Player of the Year, Race to CME Globe, Annika Major Award, LPGA Vare Trophy, Top 10 Leaders and No 1 Money List. Older sster Moriya and Thidapa Suwannapura also celebrated their own LPGA title wins.  Kiradech Aphiranrat proudly continued to fly the flag for Thailand’s in the men’s game, breaking into the Top 30 and becoming the first Thai to earn his full membership card for the world-leading PGA Tour.

Mighty Mouse Chanathip Songkrasin emerged as one of the Kingdom’s most successful football players ever, scoring eight goals for Consadole Sapporo to help them to their highest ever J-League finish (fourth). Just 158cm tall, Chanathip was voted by his teammates as the team’s most valuable player of the season but the highlight of his career was being included in the Team of the Year at the recent J-League Awards, the first Asean footballer to ever receive such an honour.

Taekwondo star Panipak Wongpattanakit ended the year as the undoubted world No 1 in the women’s 49kg category after snaring a total of six titles. Her major wins included two World Grand Prix titles, in Manchester and Taoyuan, the Asian Games gold medal and two gold medals in the World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series. The 21-year-old from Surat Thani is one of the hottest Thai prospects at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

For the first time in history, the women’s badminton team reached the final of the Uber Cup. Led by three top-10 players – Ratchanok Intanon (singles) and the doubles pairing of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai – the hosts upset 14-time champions China 3-2 in the semi-finals at the Impact Arena in May but fell short in the gold medal match, 3-0 to Japan. The event will return to Bangkok in 2022.

After back-to-back wins over Roman Gonzalez of Nicaraqua that earned him the WBC super-flyweight belt in the US last year, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai returned to Uncle Sam in February to defend his title and succeeded with a majority decision over Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico. He later beat another Mexican Iran Diaz with a unanimous points decision on home soil in October, a bout featured in the One Super Series.

Despite being a football-obsessed country, Thailand managed to nonetheless host a highly successful MotoGP event in Buriram – in fact the Kingdom’s debut went down so well in the sport it was voted the best MotoGP stop of the calendar. More than 220,000 fans packed into the Chang International Circuit, the highest turnout of any MotoGP race in 2018. A clever use of E-taen trucks – northeastern agricultural vehicles – as “shuttle buses” was one of the tournament’s highlights.

Ever since the retirement of legendary tennis player Tamarine Tanasugarn in 2016, Thai tennis has been lamenting the lack of an heir apparent … until Luksika Kumkhum ended the long wait for a Thai champion on the WTA circuit by winning two WTA 125K Series in Mumbai and Taiwan in November. That strong finish helped her to wrap up the season on a career-high No 66 in the world. The Chanthaburi-born player also reached the third round of the Australian Open in January, the second Thai to do so in 21 years, after Tamarine in 1997.

The 18th Asian Games was a priority event for Thai athletes in 2018 but the the team’s campaign in the quadrennial event ended in disappointment. Only 11 golds were brought home, far short of the projected 17-20 hopes for by sports chiefs. Out of those 11 medals, only three – by shooter Sutiya Jiewchaloemit in the women’s skeet, Panipak Wongpattanakit (taekwondo) and cyclist Jai Angsuthasawit (men’s keirin) – came from Olympic standard sports.

One of the biggest flops of the year was undisputedly the shock semi-final exit of the Thai football team at the AFF Suzuki Cup. The five-time champions were seeking a hat-trick of triumphs but crashed out on the “away goals” rule, managing just a 2-2 draw at home rule after a 0-0 draw with Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. A poorly taken late penalty by Adisak Kraisorn, which would have taken the team into the final, ranks among the most painful memories for Thai football fans this year.

The passing of Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprapha in a helicopter crash was a great loss to Thai sports this year. The former CEO of King Power made headlines around the world when he inspired The Foxes to a fairytale Englidsh premier league crown out of nowhere in the 2015-2016 season. His death brought an outpouring of grief, not only in Thailand but also in the global sports scene.

Teerasil, who just returned from playing for J-League 1 runners-up Sanfrecce Hiroshima, will inherit the captain’s armband from goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanant, who has had to withdraw with a foot injury.

Left back Theerathon Bunmathan and midfielder Chalermpong Kerdkaew have been selected as vice-captains.

Since joining the senior team in 2007, the 30-year-old Teerasil, who will return to Muangthong United next season, has netted an outstanding 42 times in just 95 Thailand games.

Meanwhile, star midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin is confident his side will beat India in their opening match on January 6 in Abu Dhabi.

“I don’t have much information about India but the scouting team will show us their videos soon,” said the 25-year-old player who will start his permanent contract with J-League’s Consadole Sapporo in February. “The first game is always tough but our team has been improving and I’m sure we can earn three points from the opening game.”

Thailand are in a group with Bahrain and hosts UAE – the top two in each of the six groups, plus the four best third-placed teams, go through to the round of 16.

“UAE will be tough to play. All their players have individual talents and are physically big. UAE has a tough league and their players have been training together for a long time,” Chanathip added.

He also believes the War Eelephants need to be more adventurous if they want to make their mark in the tournament.

“We’ve started to train more [on our] attacks. At the Asian level, we have to be more aggressive but also be consistent. If we make mistakes, we could be punished,” he said.

The 21-year-old Australian turned professional only last month and is already enjoying an early boost to his fledgling career as he leads the field with his three-day total of 14-under-par 199 at the Lakeview Resort and Golf Club.

China’s Xiao Bowen, who was among the leading 140 players and ties to progress after the first two rounds, remained firmly in control of regaining his playing rights on the Asian Tour when he returned with a 66 to take fifth place.

Having made to make the early exit at Qualifying School earlier this year, American Jeremy Wendelken will get another shot of securing his Tour card as he heads into the next round in a share of seventh place with his 203 total.

A further cut for the final round will be made after the fourth round where only the leading 70 players and ties will feature on Sunday.

At the conclusion of 90 holes, the leading 35 players and ties will be ranked accordingly for the 2019 season.

Leading scores after round 3 of the The Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage 2019 being played at the par 71, 6888 Yards A&B course (am – denotes amateur):

199 – Zach MURRAY (AUS) 68-64-67, Poom PATTAROPONG (THA) 67-64-68.

200 – Tomoharu OTSUKI (JPN) 69-65-66, Christoffer BAUMANN (SWE) 64-68-68.

201 – XIAO Bowen (CHN) 64-71-66.

202 – Austen TRUSLOW (USA) 67-66-69.

203 – Ben GEYER (USA) 68-68-67, Jeremy WENDELKEN (USA) 67-66-70.

204 – Kisang LEE (KOR) 72-70-62, Gunn CHAROENKUL (THA) 69-68-67, Jeff BERKSHIRE (USA) 70-67-67, Kade MCBRIDE (AUS) 70-69-65, Itthipat BURANATANYARAT (THA) 67-67-70, Clyde MONDILLA (PHI) 71-68-65, Mikumu HORIKAWA (JPN) 72-68-64, Jobim CARLOS (PHI) 68-66-70, Sean KELLY (USA) 65-69-70, Dale BRANDT-RICHARDS (AUS) 72-68-64.

The fiery 23-year-old posted a short video on his Instagram account showing him with what appeared to be a drip in his arm and being treated by medics.

“This spider bite outta contro,” a caption to the video said.

He added to his nearly one million followers: “Got a spider bite on my foot. Christmas different every year.”

Local reports said he spent the festive season in a Canberra hospital but was still on track to be in Brisbane for the tournament that starts on Monday.

Kyrgios finished his season early in October after an elbow injury forced him out of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Returning home to prepare for 2019, the world number 35 admitted last month he was working through mental health issues that had plagued him throughout the year.

“I’m starting to see some psychologists and trying to get on top of my mental health,” he said then.

The supremely talented but combustible Kyrgios has become infamous for his public outbursts and meltdowns on court.

His win in Brisbane was his only title success in 2018.

The Spanish world number two had to pull the plug early on his 2018 season and has not played since a knee problem forced him to retire during his US Open semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro in September.

He underwent surgery on his ankle to remove an intra-articular loose body in November and only resumed training two weeks ago.

Nadal will dip his toes back into competition at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition in Abu Dhabi, where he faces either Kevin Anderson or Chung Hyeon in his opener on Friday.

“I started two weeks ago and of course doing the things step by step and I think I have time to be ready for Melbourne at my 100 percent,” Nadal told reporters in the UAE capital on Thursday.

“It’s going to be good to have some matches before but I’m confident that I’m going to arrive to Melbourne with the right situation.”

The 32-year-old retired during matches at two of the four Grand Slams in 2018, but still added a record-extending 11th French Open crown to his collection.

He says he remains motivated to launch yet another comeback from injury, despite a career plagued by physical problems.

“After the second part of the year, have been tough last year in terms of injuries but that happens and that’s part of my tennis career too,” he added.

“Just try to stay calm, try to work the right way and when I’m back I know things are not easy, I know at the beginning you always have tough feelings and pains in the body that normally you don’t have.

“But I have experience in all of this and try to be ready for the everyday practices and when (I) arrive (at) the matches I don’t have to ask myself big things at the beginning, just trying to be positive with every improvement and that way normally you get the right point.”

– Djokovic enjoying tennis again –

Joining Nadal in Abu Dhabi is the man who replaced him at the top of the rankings, Novak Djokovic. The Serb is the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion and will be looking to win a third major in a row at the Australian Open next month.

Djokovic ended a two-year Grand Slam title drought at Wimbledon in July and has lost just three matches since.

He admits that he lost his motivation during the difficult period that followed the 2016 French Open, where he completed the career Grand Slam, but has now found different ways to attain gratification from the sport.

“I feel I’m not prioritising success on the tennis court for the sake of the success only as I used to do that probably up to five years ago,” Djokovic said.

“For me, tennis is more of a platform now for other things and for the values I want to share, and the messages I want to share with the young generation.

“Ultimately a tennis court for me is a place where I get challenged in every possible way emotionally and my character is kind of on the line. I treat that as my own personal school of life.

“Not many places can trigger me in a positive or negative way as a tennis court does.”

Djokovic takes on either Karen Khachanov or Dominic Thiem in Abu Dhabi on Friday and officially kicks off his 2019 season at the Qatar Open in Doha next week.

A year on since becoming the world’s most expensive defender in a £75 million ($95 million) move from Southampton, the Dutchman has more than justified his enormous transfer fee by helping to transform Liverpool’s defensive record.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have conceded just seven goals and are yet to be beaten in 19 Premier League games — a run that has enabled them to streak six points clear at the top of the table.

“It feels like it is an exciting time at Liverpool – and hopefully it will prove to be that as well,” Van Dijk told the club’s website.

“What’s important is we need to keep going; we cannot be satisfied with what we have right now because we have nothing at the moment. We need to keep going, stay humble and work hard.”

Van Dijk’s arrival helped spark a run to last season’s Champions League final, but two huge errors from goalkeeper Loris Karius helped Real Madrid retain their crown as European champions with a 3-1 win in Kiev.

The signing of Brazilian number one Alisson Becker to replace the German has further bolstered Liverpool’s defence, but Van Dijk is still credited as the man who has helped turn Klopp’s side into title contenders.

“Our defensive record this season has been spoken about a lot and I’m definitely proud of it,” he added.

“The entire team has contributed towards it and we should all be proud of the fact we’re trying to keep clean sheets, not only the defence.

“When things are going well people will probably say that I am the one that changed things, but it is not like that.

“But if things are not going well, I am the guy that will get the blame because of my transfer fee. But that’s the life we live as footballers.”

– ‘Huge hunger’ –

Van Dijk has also been named captain of the Netherlands as his reputation around the world has soared over the past year, but he believes at 27 he still has room for improvement.

“I have improved in every aspect of my game I think, but there is still plenty to improve.

“I still have some time to do that I think. I need to keep improving, doing what we’re doing and hopefully achieve good things.”

In contrast to their unbeaten run in the Premier League, Liverpool survived three defeats in their Champions League group to progress to the last 16 where they will meet German giants Bayern Munich.

And Van Dijk believes the pain of losing to Real in May will spurn Liverpool on to win a sixth European Cup in the coming seasons.

“As a player, losing a final can definitely give you a huge hunger to get back there and win it.

“Now I want to do everything that is possible to reach that stage again. It’s tough, but we need to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully it’s going to happen again one day.”

In her first on-court appearance since that controversial final in New York, Williams lost an exhibition match to her sister Venus 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the UAE capital and will now head straight to Perth to compete in the Hopman Cup alongside her countryman Frances Tiafoe.

Asked if the US Open final is a topic she’d like to avoid as the new season kicks off, Serena said: “I don’t avoid anything. I just don’t have time to talk about that. I talked about it, everyone talked about it for months and months and months and it’s best to move on to bigger and better things.”

Bigger and better things are definitely on Serena’s mind as she admitted earlier in the day the significance of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles when it comes to her goals for 2019.

Williams twice missed out on a chance to tie Court’s mark in 2018, losing both the Wimbledon and US Open finals in the span of the last six months.

The 23-time major champion, who has played just seven events since her return from maternity leave in March, will be chasing history once again at the Australian Open in January.

“(The number 24) has always been significant since I got 22, then 23. It’s something that I clearly want but I have to be able to get there and beat a lot of good players to get it,” said Serena.

The 36-year-old looked in good shape in her tight defeat to Venus on Thursday and can take confidence from the high level they both showcased.

“My fitness, I feel like I’m pretty fit,” Serena said. “I was running and running and never got tired except for one point but then I got over it in 20 seconds, so I think that was really the highlight for me.”

Venus will begin her 2019 season at the WTA event in Auckland but will be without a coach having ended her 11-year collaboration with David Witt last month.

“I love everyone that I work with, and I still love them, so it’s just all love. I haven’t brought on anyone yet, so we’ll see what happens,” said Venus.

The 38-year-old wasn’t specific when describing what she’s looking for in a coach but said it was important “that they’re as easy as going as I am, that’s all that matters”.

Sweden’s Christoffer Baumann along with Singapore’s Choo Tze huang and Australia’s Zach Murray, who signed for matching 10-under-par 132 totals to be bunched in second place, are among the leading 140 players and ties who will continue their journey.

They will play another two more rounds before a further cut for the final round is made where only the leading 70 players and ties players will feature on Sunday at the Lakeview Resort and Golf Club.

At the conclusion of 90 holes, the leading 35 players and ties will be ranked accordingly for the 2019 season.

India’s Aman Raj and Korea’s Taewoo Kim together with Jeremy Wendelken and Austen Truslow of the United States will also continue their journey as they take fifth place with their 133 total.

Having missed out on his chance to secure his Asian Tour card earlier this year, Poom is relishing the opportunity of having another chance of doing so again this week.

The Thai believes his experience of playing on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) has prepared him well for the grueling task ahead and is confident of rising to the occasion.

The second round of the Qualifying School saw two hole-in-ones being recorded on the par-three 16 where Baumann and Truslow enjoyed their moment of glory with their aces.