German football promoter and sports announcer Reiner Calmund told of his experience watching this year’s FIFA World Cup from a cruise ship in Brazil during a meeting of the Rotary Club of Phoenix-Pattaya.
The “heavyweight” of German football did not come alone to Pattaya; he brought his good friend, the vice marshal of the Royal Thai Air Force Academy, Nigon Chumnankul, who also is a well-known sports reporter for Thai television and writes sports news for Siam Sport Daily newspaper.
(From Left) Ingo Räuber, Jürgen Schlag, Heiko Klimanschewsky, Nigon Chumnankul, Peter Malhotra and Axel Brauer.
Nigon speaks German fluently, having studied in Germany for several years. He has participated in all world championships and major football tournaments in the past 30 years. He is also an interpreter for the Thai Football Association for matches by the German national team.
Introduced by club President Ingo Raeuber – appearing for the first time after his back surgery and three months of recovery – the two football luminaries were in full swing. It was with obvious pleasure that they talked about the successful World Cup and they were full of praise for the German team. Using a lot of technical jargon, they explained the various variants of games to the many guests, and analyzed the games of the other participating teams, also lavishly praising them.
Calli pauses during the Elfi Seitz interview.
By offering all their knowledge about the world of football they drew their audience successfully once again back to the days of the championship. The audience sat spellbound. Calmund then opened the floor to questions.
(From Left) Elfi Seitz, Reiner Calmund, Sukanyapach Homchuen, Peter Malhotra, Nigon Chumnankul and Ingo Räuber.
The meeting finished with Peter Malhotra MD of the Pattaya Mail Media Group and the Amari Pattaya’s Sukanyapach Homchuen presenting a check for 90,000 baht. The funds were raised at a charity concert featuring world renowned guitarist Hucky Eichelmann earlier this year. The club has designated these funds to support the Prostheses Foundation of H.R.H. the Princess Mother in providing artificial limbs to those in need.
The event was co-organised by the Pattaya Mail Media Group, Amari Pattaya and Skål International Pattaya & East Thailand.
Reiner Calmund, moderator Heiko Klimanschewsky and Nigon Chumnankul during the debate.
