National Sports Day in Thailand

Commemorates King Bhumibol's gold medal in sailing at the 1967 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games.

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and is also known as 'The Art of Eight Limbs' as the hands, shins, elbows and knees are used extensively in this art. Thailand also adopted several Western sports.

The main idea of a sports day in school is to encourage children to have fun, to get active and to work together in various fun physical activities and challenges. Students participate in many team building and fun activities on the day.

December 16 in annually observed in Thailand as National Sports Day (Wan Kila Haeng Chat — วันกีฬาแห่งชาติ) since 1986. This commemorates the gold medal won by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and share with his eldest daughter, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya (then aged 16), whom he tied in points in the OK dinghy class at the 4th Southeast Asian Games held in Bangkok from December 9-16, 1967. This was Thailand’s second time to host the biennial SEA Games which are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia. At the 1967 Games, Thailand led the medal tally with a total of 165 (77 gold, 48 silver and 40 bronze).