Asian Games 2026 Prize Money for Puripol Boonson, Supawadee Wongkamchan, Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Joshua Atkinson, and How Thailand's Sports Fund Counts It

The 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, are heading into their closing days, and every medal a Thai athlete takes home already had a price attached to it before the Games began. The National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) published its rates in advance: THB 2,000,000 for a gold, THB 1,000,000 for a silver and THB 500,000 for a bronze. Here is how the Asian Games 2026 prize money for four Thai athletes was actually assembled, medal by medal, and how the fund does the counting.

The Payout Follows the Number of Events an Athlete Can Enter, Not the Colour of the Medal

What separates these four totals is not whose gold shines brighter. It is how many medal events their sport lets one person enter. Athletics let Puripol Boonson line up in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and a relay, so he had three payouts in play in a single Games. Badminton men's singles and the men's 400 metres are one-shot events.

Laid out this way, two athletes with one gold each still walk away with different sums, because a second medal adds THB 500,000 even when it is only a bronze.

THB 2 Million a Gold, THB 1 Million a Silver and THB 500,000 a Bronze Set the Whole Scale

The National Sports Development Fund fixed these rates before the Games, and athletes are not the only ones paid. Coaches and the national association behind each sport receive their own share, calculated on top of what the athletes earn.

Each sport's national association collects 30% of the combined prize money its athletes earn, capped at THB 10,000,000 per association.

Do Doubles Partners Have to Split One Gold Medal Payout?

They do not. The fund pays per medallist, not per medal. Thai teqball is the clearest case: three golds shared among six athletes turned into THB 12,000,000, because each of them received the full THB 2,000,000. The same rule carries over to large squads, which is how all 12 players on Thailand's women's volleyball team collected THB 500,000 each for their bronze.

How Long After the Final Does the Money Actually Land?

Dr Kongsakda Yodmani, governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, said before the Games that payments would go out within seven days of the competition ending, a faster turnaround than previous editions, when athletes waited months.

Puripol Boonson Turned 3 Medals in 3 Events Into THB 5,000,000

He is the only athlete in this group with three medals, and the only one whose total includes a silver. His THB 5 million did not come from gold alone; it came from racing three events inside a single week.

• Gold, men's 100 metres, 9.90 seconds, an Asian Games record and Thailand's first men's 100m gold in 48 years — THB 2,000,000

• Gold, men's 200 metres, 19.88 seconds, breaking the 20-second barrier and the Asian Games record again — THB 2,000,000

• Silver, 4 × 100 metres mixed relay, beaten by China by 0.09 seconds — THB 1,000,000
  
  

THB 5 Million From the Sports Fund, and Another USD 25,000 From the OCA

On top of the fund's money, Boonson was named the male Most Valuable Player of the 2026 Asian Games by the Olympic Council of Asia, an award reported to carry USD 25,000, roughly THB 840,000. The Royal Thai Police has also moved to commission him as a special-case officer on the strength of these results.

Supawadee Wongkamchan Earned THB 4,000,000 in a Sport Making Its Asian Games Debut

Teqball was contested for medals at the Asian Games for the first time in 2026, and Thailand swept all three golds on offer. Wongkamchan entered two of those events and won both on the same day.

• Gold, women's doubles, with Chutathip Kanthathong (20 September) — THB 2,000,000

• Gold, mixed doubles, with Pakpong Dechcharoen (20 September) — THB 2,000,000

The third Thai teqball gold came in men's doubles through Sorasak Taosiri and Jeerati Chanliang. Across all three titles, the six Thai teqball players collected THB 12,000,000 between them.

Teqball Is Played on a Curved Table, So How Does One Player Enter 2 Events?

Teqball is played across a curved table with no net in the ping-pong sense. Arms and hands are banned, which leaves nine legal contact points: both feet, both knees, both shoulders, the chest, the head and the back, and the same point cannot be used twice in a row. Only three medal events exist, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, so a woman can enter both the women's and the mixed draw.

Kunlavut Vitidsarn Ended a 60-Year Wait, and a Team Bronze Pushed His Total to THB 2,500,000

His men's singles title is the first badminton men's singles gold Thailand has won at the Asian Games, 60 years after the country first went looking for it. His total then gained another half a million from the men's team bronze won six days earlier.

• Gold, men's singles, beating Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 2-0 (29 September) — THB 2,000,000

• Bronze, men's team, after a 1-3 semi-final loss to Indonesia (23 September) — THB 500,000

That squad carried 10 players, and every one of them receives the same THB 500,000, because the fund counts heads rather than medals.

One Medal, THB 2,000,000 — Joshua Robert Atkinson Won the 400 Metres by 0.09 Seconds

Atkinson entered a single event in Nagoya. He topped his heat in 45.30 seconds, then came through late in the final to stop the clock at 44.90 and edge his rival from the United Arab Emirates by 0.09 seconds. It is Thailand's first men's 400 metres gold since the Asian Games were first held 75 years ago, and it is worth THB 2,000,000.

None of These Totals Is a Closed Account Yet

Every figure above covers only the Asian Games 2026 prize money that the National Sports Development Fund pays the athlete. Several other streams run alongside it.

• Coaches are paid separately, at 10–20% of the athlete prize depending on squad size

• The sport's national association takes 30% of its athletes' combined winnings, capped at THB 10,000,000

• Employers run their own rewards, as with the Royal Thai Police commissioning Boonson as a special case

• Olympic Council of Asia awards sit entirely outside the fund

• Private sponsors and some associations announce extra bonuses of their own
  
  

THB 73.7 Million — the Fund's Bill at the Halfway Point

As of 25 September, with Thailand on 5 golds, 4 silvers and 7 bronzes, the fund's Asian Games 2026 prize money bill stood at THB 73,700,000: THB 50,000,000 for athletes, THB 8,700,000 for coaches and THB 15,000,000 for associations. That figure keeps climbing until the closing ceremony on 4 October.

These are the numbers behind the picture of an athlete on a podium, and they sit a long way from what outsiders usually see, from the Thai team's ceremonial uniform to the seconds spent on the track.