'Puen' Peeraphon Mittsasan, a Thai national Pencak Silat athlete in the men's combat category D, received shocking bad news unexpectedly just as he was about to step up to receive the gold medal.
Peeraphon defeated Muhammad Iszul from Malaysia in the gold medal final with a score of 60-57. However, Malaysia filed a protest with the referees, disagreeing with the scoring in the final round.
Malaysia's first protest was rejected, but they persisted and filed another protest just before the medal ceremony began.
This time, the referees accepted Malaysia’s protest and reversed the decision, awarding Muhammad Iszul the win and the gold medal. As a result, Peeraphon Mittsasan was left disappointed with only the silver medal.
This outcome left the Thai Pencak Silat team finishing the SEA Games with three gold medals instead of four.