BoxRec

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's first Olympic medalist and ex-World Boxing Council champion Payao Poontarat died in a hospital on Sunday at age 49, local media reported.

Payao had suffered for four years from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrigs Disease, a degenerative brain and nerve illness named after the former New York Yankees player, who died of it shortly after its medical discovery.

Payao became a hero in Thailand when he won the country's first Olympic medal, taking bronze at the 1976 Games in Montreal.

He turned professional and won the WBC light-flyweight title in 1983, beating Venezuelan Rafael Orono in the Thai resort town of Pattaya.

He entered politics in 2001, winning a seat in Parliament for the opposition Democrat party, but was forced to retire through illness after only a year