NAYPYITAW—Striking big in medal-rich events like athletics, swimming and boxing, Thailand reclaimed the overall title of the 27th Southeast Asian Games in runaway fashion here.
Beaten to the overall title by host Indonesia two years ago in Palembang, the Thais reigned supreme anew by collecting 103 gold medals—20 more than host Burma (Myanmar)—with only a handful of events remaining Saturday.
The Thais, who last won the overall crown in Laos in 2009, collected a whopping 17 gold medals in athletics and seven each in boxing and swimming.
They also dominated weightlifting and judo, where they nailed six golds each, while canoeing, chess and taekwondo added 15 more to their haul.
Hosting the games for the first time since 1969 when it was still known as the SEA Peninsular Games, Myanmar is expected to post its best finish in the biennial meet as it closed in on the 80-gold mark with 78 a day before the meet closes at Wunna Theikdi Stadium.
Benefitting from the inclusion of traditional lesser-known sports like chinlone, vovinam and kempo, which gave them a combined 16 golds, the hosts led in the early stages of the Games, before Thailand unleashed its might.
The Burmese, who struck hardest in traditional dragon boat racing with 12, also got the benefit of some perceived hometown decisions, particularly in boxing and muay, where Philippine bets went 0-3 against the hosts.