Monday, September 21, 2009

Mong lands gold in team event

       Mong Thongdee, a stateless child from Chiang Mai province representing Thailand in an international paper airplane flying contest in Japan, yesterday emerged the champion in the team event.
       MONG GOES FOR GOLD: Mong Thongdee prepares to throw his paper plane in Japan yesterday.
       The 12-year-old boy was part of a three-man team which included two adults at the All-Japan Origami Airplane competition being held at the Makuhari Complex in Chiba, Japan, according to Japanese newspaper Mainichi.
       Mong's paper plane stayed in the air for 11 seconds, which was good enough for victory, but not good enough to break the record of 12.50 seconds set last year.
       Mong was wearing a yellow shirt and a pair of jeans when he made his throw.
       After the team victory, in which only the best throw is counted out of the three throws, he smiled and shook hands with members of the rival teams.
       Mong said he wanted to thank all the people who supported him and said he would tell his parents he was proud to have represented Thailand and won.
       He will be competing Sunday in the individual event.
       Mong is a Prathom 4 (grade 4) student at the Ban Huay Sai School in Chiang Mai province.
       Mong almost didn't make it to Japan for the competition as he is a stateless person in Thailand - his parents are Burmese - and he has no ID card and didn't qualify for a Thai passport.
       But after the story of his plight first broke in the Bangkok Post Sunday, senior government officials stepped in.
       Mong was then given the all-clear to travel to Japan after PM Abhisit Vejjajiva stepped in. A certificate and temporary passport were issued to the boy, allowing him to travel to Japan.

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