Wherever she looked there was dust. "I want to volunteer as a cleaner," she said. On her return from Tashkent a week later, Tamarine saw some dramatic improvements and had a change of mind.

She was overwhelmed with what she saw - this new version of Suvarnabhumi turned out to be cleaner, in better order and looked very futuristic. "The architectural work is so exquisite," she said. "It's a good combination between modern art and Thai culture. My fellow players really think the same - that it is very beautiful," added Tamarine, who was thrilled by the airport's structural design, which looks like a lotus petal.

Suchanun stranded in Japan

Thai No2 Suchanun Viratprasert felt like she had changed from a tennis player to a migrant when she was stranded at an airport in Japan for two days when there were no flights to Bangkok. She almost missed the chance to show off her skills in the on-going PTT Bangkok Open when Suchanun's scheduled flight could not take off due to a severe storm near Narita International Airport in Japan.

Her only option was to hang around at the airport. She ended up living, eating and sleeping there and felt like a vagabond. "There's nothing we could do," she said.

"I had to sleep in a sleeping bag on a couch. I felt like an exile. The worst thing about it was that I didn't get to take a shower at all," she added with a laugh. Luckily she was able to find a flight home in time to play in the Bangkok Open, which was a big relief to all her fans in Thailand.

Caballero's not shy about his weight

Most boxers would feel devastated if they missed out on a title shot due to being overweight after months of tough preparation. They try every means to keep their weight down and sometimes have to strip to their underwear to make the weight before a fight. But Panamanian Celestino Caballero, however, went a step further.

Caballero arrived in Thailand 10 days before his fight with Thai champion Somsak Sithchatchawal for the World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight title. The highly-rated Caballero had struggled with his weight and was 10 pounds over the division's weight limit. On the day of the official weight-in, the No 1 contender was running out of time to lose weight and at the very last minute decided to use a new tactic. The Panamanian stunned those at the weigh-in by taking off his underpants before stepping on the scales, leaving a group of Thai press in shock. The tactic worked as Caballero made the weight and went on to win the title with a splendid third-round knockout of Somsak.