Thai vocational students retain championship at int'l snow sculpture contest

BANGKOK, January 9 (TNA) - Thai students from Ubonratchathani Vocational College in the Thai Northeast have retained the championship for the nation for the 8th consecutive years at an international snow sculpture contest in China. President of Ubonratchathani Vocational College Thanakorn Chaiyakul told journalists on January 8 that a student team from his college's second year fine arts major has, again, won the top titles for Thailand at the 9th International College Snow Sculpture Contest 2017, held in China's Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province during January 4-7. Thanakorn said, accompanied by a team of instructors, the students represented Thailand to create a giant snow masterpiece, dubbed, "Water-Fish-Paddy Field-Rice", competing among a total of 57 youth teams from 15 countries worldwide. According to the president, the Thai team was able to grab the Top Grade Awards from the competition and retain the championship for their motherland for the 8th year in a row with their snow sculpture, named Water-Fish-Paddy Field-Rice, which reflects the abundance of food in Thailand and late His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. The college president quoted an instructor who has led the Thai team, Surachart Palasak, as saying that the Thai students had successfully gone through the delicately-intricacy of the sculpture with their perseverance and limited time amid the chilly temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius, as they were all determined to carry out the work to the best to honour the late and beloved Thai King, who had introduced a number of development projects for the Thai people. The instructor noted that the design of the Thai team's snow sculpture and its details appeared to attract the judges' attention, thanks to the unique Thai art that helps the sculpture look charmingly-alive. (TNA)