Diplomatic spat spills over into sports as Thai takes on Singapore

Bangkok, Feb 3 (UNI) Thai soccer fans stood in kilometre-long queues this morning to buy tickets to a match pitting the national side against Singapore tomorrow, days after a controversy-marred preliminary contest has re-ignited anti-Singapore emotions here.

Angry soccer fans blocked traffic in Bangkok's main tourist shopping district this afternoon to protest the non-availability of tickets for the final of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) football championship tomorrow.

The 30,000 tickets on sale were snapped up within a few hours with people making a beeline since three o'clock in the morning to buy the prized admissions.

This is the first time a soccer match among Southeast Asian teams has become such a big draw in Thailand where star players of the big European clubs are household names.

Unprecedented security arrangements are in place for the match with fans not allowed to carry water bottles into the ground.

Passions among soccer fans here are running high after a controversial penalty ruling during last Wednesday's match between the two sides in Singapore. The Thai team walked off the field to protest the ruling by Malaysian referee C Ravichandran and subsequently lost 2-1 to Singapore.

The controversial ruling which drew protests from top Thai political leaders follows last month's diplomatic row between Thailand and the city state over ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra's meeting with Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar.

The January 2006 sale of then Thai prime minister Thaksin's family telecom business to Singapore's state investment company Temasak for a tax-free 1.9 billion US dollars had triggered massive street protests in Bangkok which culminated in the 19 September military coup against him.

UNI