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Riches for Wijan after winning Olympic gold medal
ATTENTION -- RECASTS, ADDS quotes, details /// SYDNEY, Oct 1 (AFP) - Wijan Ponlid will receive more than half million US dollars to ensure he boxes on to Athens after his gold medal triumph for Thailand at the Olympics here Sunday. The 24-year-old policeman from Suhkhothai became Thailand's new sporting hero with his emphatic 19-12 points victory over world champion Bulat Jumadilov of Kazakhstan in the flyweight final. It was Thailand's second gold medal in Olympic boxing following featherweight Somluck Kamsing's euphoric victory at Atlanta four years ago. And just as Thai supporters feted Somluck in Atlanta for winning Thailand's first Olympic gold in 44 years, they were just as ecstatic, waving their national flags and chanting his name, as Wijan was acclaimed the champion. In a victory that will make Wijan a wealthy national hero as much as it did for Somluck, Wijan held aloft a framed photo of King Bhumibol in the ring with the red, white and blue Thai flag draped around his shoulders. Thailand's sports minister Jurin Laksanawisit, watching the fight here, said Wijan was expected to receive 20 million baht (around half million US) from the government and private and boxing sources. "The whole country is proud of what Wijan has achieved here and I was very confident he would win today," Laksanawisit said. Somluck, who was beaten in the quarter-finals here by US world champion Ricardo Juarez, looked on approvingly and said:" It's great he did what I did in Atlanta." Wijan won every round using his darting left lead and jolting right jab to regularly beat Jumadilov to the punch. "It was not that difficult today," said Wijan. "I won because of the support of the King of Thailand and the Thai people. "I was very confident from round two onwards that I would win and I had the patience and the concentration to succeed." Wijan confirmed that he intended to box on as an 'amateur' to the 2004 Athens Olympics and had no plans to turn professional. No doubt his windfall from the Olympic gold medal will make that an easier decision. Thailand's Cuban coach Juan Batista Fontanills, who plotted the tactics to upset the world champion, paid tribute to his fighter after working with him for just two years. "I first started working with Wijan two years ago, but now he's the Olympic champion and I'm very satisfied," said Fontanills. Wijan defeated Jumadilov earlier this year in Bangkok. "We knew the other boy was good so we had to attack him using many combination of punches," Fontanills said. "Our tactic was not to allow him to punch too much." Wijan had fought his way into the final with a come-from-behind 14-11 points win over European champion Vladimir Sidorenko of Ukraine in a semi-final on Friday night.
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