Moo Pa Academy footballers and coach ordained

CHIANG RAI, July 25 (TNA) -- Eleven young footballers and their coach from the Moo Pa (Wild Boars) Academy were ordained to make merits for the people who rescued them from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai province. The boys become novices and their coach Ekkapol Janthawong is a monk. The ordination was organised at Wat Phra That Doi Tung and performed by its abbot Phra Phutthawong Wiwat with the presence of huge crowds. Before their ordination, the 13 people joined a procession to the Buddhist temple. The procession included a portrait of His Majesty the King, national and Buddhist flags, trays of ceremonial objects and monk and novice fans picturing wild boars. The ordination was aimed to make merits for His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen of the late King Rama IX and all people involved in the rescue of the Moo Pa team trapped in Tham Luang for 17 days since June 23. The ordained people also intended to make merits especially for Sqn Ldr Samarn Gunan who died in the rescue mission. Waralee Gunan, the widow of Sqn Ldr Samarn, and Dr Pak Loharachun who had stayed with the trapped people until their extraction were among the people who attended the ordination. (TNA)