Thailand’s Puripol named men’s MVP of Asian Games

Thai sprinter Puripol Boonson has been selected as the men’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, following his gold-medal performances in the 100m and 200m.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) selected Puripol for the award, with the official presentation scheduled for 4 October.

Puripol set new Asian Games records in both the 100m and 200m. His winning time of 19.88 seconds in the 200m also matched the Asian record. He also won silver as part of Thailand’s mixed 4x100m relay team.

The OCA awards an MVP prize to one male and one female athlete at each Asian Games. The women’s MVP for Aichi-Nagoya 2026 has not yet been publicly announced.

Puripol will receive a prize of US$25,000, or about 830,000 baht.

He is the first athlete from outside China, Japan and South Korea to receive the men’s MVP award since it was introduced in 1998.

The MVP award was first presented at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, initially as a single award. Separate men’s and women’s awards were introduced at the 2022 Asian Games.

Previous recipients include Japan’s Koji Ito in 1998, Kosuke Kitajima in 2002, South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan in 2006, China’s Lin Dan in 2010, Japan’s Kosuke Hagino in 2014 and Rikako Ikee in 2018.

In 2022, China’s Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei were named the men’s and women’s MVPs respectively.