Phuket

Phuket’s TSLC signs 2mn baht deal with China’s elite Liaoning Swimming Club

Published

8 years ago

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Phuket’s TSLC signs 2mn baht deal with China’s elite Liaoning Swimming Club | Thaiger

PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) has signed a 2 million baht deal with China’s elite Liaoning Swimming Club, which means Olympians will train at Phuket’s TSLC’s Olympic-standard aquatic facilities for the first time under one of the world’s best coaches.

The deal sees the talented squad head to Thanyapura on January 27, 2013 for a six-week training stint with legendary coach Stephan Widmer.

Widmer trained Australian world champions Susie O’Neill and Samantha Riley, as well as Olympic gold medalists Leisel Jones, Kylie Palmer, Libby Trickett, Melanie Schlanger, Jessicah Schipper and London Olympic silver medalist Christian Sprenger.

Widmer recently left his post as head coach of the Queensland State Swimming Center to spend a year with his family in his native Switzerland. He will share his expertise and methods with a team of 23 swimmers and coaches from the Liaoning club at TSLC’s world-class campus, with 60 sessions scheduled over the six-week high-performance training camp.

Widmer currently coaches London Olympians Wang Hai-Bing, who just missed out on a bronze medal after the Chinese team placed fourth in the men’s 400m freestyle relay, Ang Shi-Jia (sixth in the freestyle relay) Lu Xiao-Yu, Lee Xia-Yen and Cheng Fei-Yi, who placed eighth in the 100m backstroke.

The Aquatics Academy is the jewel in the crown of the TSLC megaplex. It includes a 50 meter Olympic-standard outdoor swimming pool, with electronic timing system, coaches’ observation window and a 600-seater shaded grandstand, plus state-of-the-art ozone filtration system and anti-turbulence lane ropes. There is also an adjacent 25m outdoor swimming pool with its own coaching platform.

Thanyapura President Robert Hauck said he was excited about the deal as it was a milestone on Thanyapura’s journey to become Asia’s favored training and retreat facility for elite teams from around the world in many sports and disciplines.

“This is a vital part of the vision becoming reality,” Mr Hauck said. “It was always envisioned that Thanyapura would become a training retreat or even a base for elite sports teams from all over the world.

“The Liaoning team is a powerhouse in China and looks set to become an even more formidable force after teaming up with a legendary coach like Stephan Widmer. So we are delighted to welcome the team here, and can’t wait to see them getting down to some hard work in the pool and having some fun times exploring our campus and the rest of Phuket too.”

Thanyapura Director of Aquatics Simon Jones described Mr Widmer as, “one of the world’s best swim coaches” and said he had been an admirer of his methods since Mr Widmer’s 1997 stint at the Queensland Academy of Sport in Australia.

“It’s very exciting for our Thanyapura-based swimmers and other athletes to see such an elite force in world swimming in their midst,” Mr Jones said.

“This visit will also be important in terms of word of mouth in the international swimming community and I’m confident the Chinese swimmers will only have good things to say about Thanyapura when they are attending the world’s top competitions and discussing training methods and facilities.”

Vice President and Head Coach of the Training Center of Sport Aquatics Management, Liaoning District; Coach Yuen Yue said: “Thanyapura is an amazing training destination with cutting edge facilities and services to assist us in optimizing our training performance. We never thought we would find a full scale world class sporting facility like this on a small island of Phuket, all set in paradise.”

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News Categories: Phuket

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Phuket begs Kolour attendees to come for Covid-19 testing

Published

13 hours ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Neill Fronde

Phuket begs Kolour attendees to come for Covid-19 testing | Thaiger

FILE PHOTO: Kolour in the park was more pleasant in 2018 before Covid-19.

Health officials in Phuket put out a public statement this week compelling all foreigners who attended clubs and Kolour events to report for Covid-19 testing. As many might expect, the response has been lacklustre at best. Spreading the message around the foreigner and expat community in Phuket, the message is aimed at the multitudes of people, mostly foreign who attended Kolour and related events that turned into a Covid-19 superspreader event. Many foreigners have not come forward, much to health officials chagrin.

Online and on social media, foreigners and Thais shed light on why this urgent public health request is going largely unheeded. Foreigners fear the repercussions of coming forward, especially since Thailand is not allowing staying home or elsewhere in isolation if someone tests positive for Covid-19. Quarantine is mandatory, and with infection numbers exploding across the country, many fear the less-than-posh comforts of being quarantined in an emergency field hospital.

Cost is the other factor that likely is preventing foreigners from turning themselves in to be tested for Covid-19. While Phuket health officials may test people for free, anyone found infected with Covid-19 will be financially responsible for all the costs of their treatment and quarantine. Foreigners with limited financial resources, especially after a year of holing up in Thailand to ride out the Coronavirus, may resist reporting to authorities when they cannot afford the mandatory quarantine and medical treatment.

Perhaps recognizing this hesitation, the message includes a plea for all attendees to self-quarantine and self-monitor for any symptoms over the next week, even if they fail to report or test negative. The note also reminds everyone to wear masks in public at all times. The statement to the public also instructed anyone who attended any of the Covid-19 spreading nightlife events to report to the Acute Respiratory Infection Clinic area of Vachira General Hospital to receive a Covid-19 swab test.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions

Published

21 hours ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Tim Newton

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions | Thaiger

Three of Thailand’s biggest expat areas are seeing sharp rises in new infections, partly from pre-Songkran traffic. The Songkran holidays, now officially over (but will see many people taking today off and making a weekend Songkran extension), and the government says they are expecting to see a rise in the cases numbers reported in the popular holiday locations.

Chon Buri Public Health office says they now have a total of 910 infections since April 1. They have 103 new cases in the past 24 hours. Most new cases are in Bang Lamung district which includes Pattaya City with 47, Siracha with 12) & Chon buri City with 8.

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions | News by Thaiger

Meanwhile Phuket has a total of 142 infections recorded on the island with the Governor still insisting there will be no need for a lockdown. Here’s a breakdown of the areas and the numbers of recorded infections so far (below).

Governor Narong announced that the Phuket Infectious Disease Control Committee won’t be implementing an official lockdown, but will “strictly raise the intensity of public health measures to counter the spread of Covid-19″.

“Everyone should wear a face mask, maintain social distancing, wash their hands frequently and install the Mor Chana app (available for free from App Store and Google Play Store).”

A meeting of the CCSA, chaired by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is expected to upgrade restrictions in red zone areas around the country, which includes Phuket and Pattaya. Read more about the latest red and orange zones HERE.

Pattaya, Phuket and Hua Hin brace for increased restrictions | News by Thaiger

For Hua Hin expats, there’s been 100 new Covid-19 infections announced in Prachuap Khiri Khan in the past 24 hours, 75 cases from Hua Hin. This takes the total in the province since April 1 to 625. Hua Hin accounts for nearly 90% of the district’s total cases.

Transport

Footbridges stop luxury yacht travelling from Phuket to Samui

Published

1 day ago

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Neill Fronde

Footbridges stop luxury yacht travelling from Phuket to Samui | Thaiger

PHOTO: Thailand's version of the Suez Canal blockage.

Footbridges in Phuket stood in the way of a luxury yacht travelling from its home in Phuket to Koh Samui when the boat was too tall to pass. Police received a call around 8 pm last night from the truck driver after his trailer carrying the yacht had trouble getting under one of several bridges for walkers to pass over the highway. The boat was travelling down Thepkrasattri Road, where it was stopped by the bridge near Baan Tha Reua School. The boat also had trouble at the pedestrian bridge at the Provincial Electricity Authority Thalang Branch and the bridge at Baan Lipon School in Srisoonthorn.

All the bridges were supposed to have a 5-metre clearance, though one observer speculated that all the repaving of the road over the years may have raised the road and lowered the clearance. Traffic police responded to the first bridge incident by sending officers to direct traffic and make sure bikes and cars didn’t pass and impeded progress on freeing the boat. The second incident about 30 minutes later was resolved by letting air out of the truck’s tires to lower it just enough to pass under the bridge. The third snag prompted the driver to go in person to the Thalang Police station to request help yet again.

This time police were less amused and suggested the truck driver try to resolve the issue himself and call back to the police only if he was unable to free the luxury yacht. A traffic police officer went to follow up with the stranded boat at the end of his shift and found the driver had given up and decided to return the yacht to its Phuket origin at Boat Lagoon Marina in Koh Kaew. The boat, now damaged from the bridge bumps, wasn’t going to make it to Surat Thani to be sailed to Koh Samui on this journey. The boat radar had broken off on one of the bridges. No word on any major damage to the pedestrian bridges.

SOURCE: The Phuket News