However, the manager of the national track and field team, Pol Maj Gen Suppanut Ariyamongkol, managed to talk Rienchai out of competing in Suphan Buri with a stirring speech that made the former champion have second thoughts about running at the National Games. Rienchai had planned to represent his province, Samut Prakarn, which was short of good runners.

But Suppanut warned him: "Rienchai. Withdraw from the Games. You are not like a good red wine - you are not getting better with age. New stars are rising and I don't think you can match them. If you are beaten in the Games, as one of the nation's best sprinters, will also lose face." Rienchai, who has now taken up coaching with the national team, followed Suppanut's advice and withdrew. He is now attending a coaching seminar in Indonesia. - The Nation.

Free condoms for the press

Whenever free condoms are available, they usually run out fast, but not in Suphan Buri where the National Games are being held. Every day more than 100 free condoms have been placed in a beautiful basket in front of the big toilets adjacent to the press centre at the Games. They can be easily seen by everyone as the condom basket is on a table with a sign which reads: "For your safety, pick up these condoms. They're free."

However, most members of the local media suddenly become shy when they stop to see what's in the basket, and not a single person has so far dared to take one, apart from one male reporter. The television reporter came out of the toilet, stopped at the basket, looked around to see if anyone was near and then grabbed several condoms.

Two reporters from Siam Sports Daily and The Nation saw what the man did. They laughed, and one of them said: "He took more than 10 condoms. I just wonder why he took such a large amount of them. I dare not pick up even one of them. I'm too shy to get free condoms here where there are lots of passers-by including women." - The Nation.

Beijing is Danai's favourite place

If Thailand's No 2 men's tennis player Danai Udomchoke had to pick one of his favourite destinations, Beijing would be at the top if his list. The 122nd-ranked Danai is always happy to return to the Chinese capital, and plays his second round match in the Beijing Open against Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic today.

Could Danai's love of the city be because of the famous Tiananmen Square or the Forbidden City? Or is it because of the charms of the Chinese fans that drives him to keep going back? Apparently those are not the reasons. "I like Beijing a lot. Things are very cheap there,'' said the economically-minded Danai, before adding: "It's hard to say what you should buy there because everything is cheap."

That explains why whenever he is not committed to practising, Danai spends his time strolling around shopping areas and getting things for himself, his family and his sweetheart. - The Nation.

A haunting experience

The National Games are being held in Suphan Buri this week and have featured a magnificent opening ceremony and some thrilling competitions, but for one member of Chiang Mai's billiards team, not everything has been perfect. After two days at the country's biggest sporting event, a reporter from Chiang Mai who is staying at the same apartment as the athletes from his province had an odd story to tell his fellow reporters.

"A billiards player from Chiang Mai will certainly remember his nights here as he was visited by an uninvited guest, and his team-mates guessed it was a ghost," he said. "Local people then assured them that their assumption was correct and they told the athletes there is a local ghost. The locals said that almost all the visitors who stay at this apartment are greeted by this scary thing," added the reporter.

But although this shadowy being made the athletes suffer insomnia, nobody wants to move out of the apartment. - The Nation.