Haiyang, China: Thailand’s beach woodball players produced a golden performance in front of the kingdom’s Deputy Prime Minister and National Olympic Committee President, General Yuthasak Sasiprapha, on the final day of competition on Thursday. Having already won the men’s and women’s team events the previous day, Thailand completed a grand slam of the four gold medals on offer by clinching the two individual titles.

Chinnakrit Imkrajang, 19, won the men’s event with a 10-round total of 193, four shots clear of the field, and Praewpan Chaithong, also 19, won the women’s event with a 10-round score of 217, three clear of the chasing pack. General Yuthasak supported the players from the first shot to the last on Thursday, and even tried his hand at beach woodball before presenting the medals at the victory ceremony and joining in a group photo session.

It is the second consecutive Asian Beach Games that the Thais have won all four medals in beach woodball, and they will be preparing hard for a hat-trick of golden grand slams on their own sand at Phuket in the 4th ABG in November 2014.

When asked why the Thais were so successful, men’s champion Chinnakrit said simply: “Because we train hard. We have trained every day for the past five months. “It is very exciting that the next Asian Beach Games will be in Thailand. Our goal is the same, and we will try our best to achieve it.”

Chinnakrit, a university student, said woodball - a combination of mini-golf and croquet – required equal levels of physical and mental fitness. “I enjoy it. It is easy to play and the skills are like golf,” he added. Women’s champion Praewpan, also a university student, said that the friendly rivalry in the Thai team had helped her play more relaxed in the final two rounds alongside two fellow Thais.

“It was easy to compete because we are friends and teammates,” she said. The Thais have been training eight hours a day at a camp in Cha-Am, and the final squad of 16 players for Haiyang was selected from an original training pool of 130 players.