Army welcomes Thai Olympic silver medalist

The Royal Thai Army welcomes the country's Olympic silver medalist, Pim-si-ri Si-ri-kaew (พิมศิริ ศิริแก้ว), to be an army officer as she has wished. BANGKOK, Aug 6 (TNA) - The Royal Thai Army welcomes the country's Olympic silver medalist, Pimsiri Sirikaew, to be an army officer as she has wished. Army Commander-in-Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha told journalists that the Royal Thai Army always welcomes and supports Thailand's athletes of national teams to become army officers, as they perform and bring reputations to the Kingdom. General Prayuth said that, like other army officers, Pimsiri, nicknamed Taew, will receive both salary, allowances and other fringe benefits once she becomes a female army officer. Pimsiri, a 22-year-old Thai weightlifter who has won the first medal for Thailand at the ongoing London 2012 Olympic Games in the women's weightlifting 58kg division, returned home on Sunday amid a warmest welcome by hundreds of well-wishers, including her parents, relatives, friends and authorities concerned. The only Thai medallist at the London Olympics so far, who is a native of Thailand's northeastern Khon Kaen Province, insisted that the silver medal she has earned for all Thais and the nation will not change her life, vowing to train harder for further success. The Thai silver medalist, who intends to present her prestige Olympic medal to her mother on the auspicious occasion of the National Mothers' Day, which falls on every August 12, is expected to receive a financial reward of more than 13 million baht from both the government and the private sector.(TNA)