Police are speculating that gambling debts related to the FIFA World Cup prompted a well-known local boxer to hang himself in Pattaya.
The body of Tianchai Doungtanoo, 25, was found hanging from an electrical cord tied to a window sill June 28 at his Saengsupha 2 home. The room showed no signs of struggle and he’d been dead only about an hour.
Friend Mongkol Sa-adiem, 25, told police they’d been watching a World Cup football match and drinking. Mongkol left to take his girlfriend home and, when he returned, he found Thienchai dead. On a table next to him were two piggy banks, both broken open and coins left on the table.
Thienchai, who earned local fame in the Muay Thai ring as “Singsamut S. U-Tapao Gym” had left boxing and opened the Hae-Ha pub on Third Road.
The ex-boxer was said to be broke and couldn’t afford a birthday present for one of his three sons. Police speculate he’d bet and lost on the football, checked what he had in change and, dismayed with the bank balance, killed himself.
