The well-known Huamark Indoor Stadium was the venue of the 1966 Asian Games where South Korea was the No.1 and Malaysia achieved its first medals in boxing

The 1966 edition of the Asian Games was held in Bangkok, Thailand in December where eleven champions have been crowned. The event was the fifth Asian Games and the fourth boxing tournament in the history of the multisport event. South Korea topped the medal rankings in 1962 and their boxers could continue that tradition in Bangkok as well.
The first boxing tournament was held in 7 men weight classes in Manila but from the second edition boxers could attend in 10 different categories. The Olympic Council of Asia raised the number of the weight classes up to 11 in the 1966 edition. Boxers could attend in the 1966 Bangkok edition from the 48kg up to the +81kg weight categories.
South Korea continued its hegemony in the next 1966 Asian Games as well, among the 11 weight classes their boxers could win finally five divisions in Bangkok. Son Young Chan (51kg) defeated a tough Indonesian boxer in his final but one of their best performances was delivered by Kim Sung Eun (57kg) who triumphed over a host country talent, Thongchai Chandarasukhon.
Thailand was impressed in the boxing tournament and their boxers won three gold medals in the event which ranked them as No.2 behind South Korea in the medal standings. India, Japan and Philippines each achieved one title in the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. Japan impressed with their one gold and eight bronze medals in 1966.
Altogether 10 countries took at least one bronze medal in the event, besides to the gold medallist nations Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Burma were the further Asian countries on the medal table in 1966. Malaysia won two bronze medals at the 51kg and at the 67kg which were the first podium places of the country in boxing.
Thailand’s first gold medal was captured by Prapan Duangchaoom who won the title of the light flyweight (48kg) short after his 22nd birthday and later he became Olympian in 1968. His teammate, two-time Olympian Cherdchai Udompaichitkul reached his career highlight in the Asian Games following his triumph over India’s Narayan More in the final of the bantamweight (54kg).
The boxing tournament of the 1966 Asian Games was held in the Huamark Indoor Stadium which was also the venue of the Bangkok 2018 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships this April. The Huamark Indoor Stadium will be the venue of the upcoming Thailand Open Boxing Tournament which is scheduled from June 28.

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