Payao Poontarat

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Olympic medal record
Men's Boxing
Bronze	Montreal 1976	Light Flyweight

Payao Poontarat (October 18, 1957 – August 13, 2006), (Thai: พเยาว์ พูลธรัตน์) was a Thai boxer who, at the age of 18, won the bronze medal in the men's Light flyweight (-48 kg) category at the 1976 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic medal ever won by a Thai sportsman. He later turned professional, and became WBC world champion. On 5 July 1984 he lost the title to Jiro Watanabe, and then the rematch on 29 November the same year.

After his professional career he joined the Democratic Party and became elected as member of parliament for his home-province Prachuap Khiri Khan in 2001. About one year later, he began to suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In 2006 he died of the disease at the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok.^[1]

Preceded by Rafael Orono

WBC Super Flyweight Champion 27 Nov 1983–29 Nov 1984

Succeeded by Jiro Watanabe

[edit] References

1. ^ Obituary in The Nation

Persondata
NAME	Payao Poontarat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	พเยาว์ พูลธรัตน์
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Boxer, Politician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 18, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH	Amphoe Bang Saphan, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand
DATE OF DEATH	August 13, 2006
PLACE OF DEATH	Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand