Nong Toom is one of the strongest people in Thailand, and not just because she is a Thai boxer. Nong Toom is a real-life hero and heroine, having undergone the massive problems of being both a successful boxer and a transvestite. Born as a biological male called Parinya Charonenphol, Nong Toom has always thought that she was a girl rather than a boy. Despite this, she has a massive talent at fighting, and made a name for herself by knocking out many male opponents in the Muay Thai. She had a formidable record of 20 wins with 18 Knockouts, and was both feared and loathed amongst her opponents.

Despite this, she battled on and won more and more money in order to keep food on her family’s plates. Eventually, she was given the chance of a sex change operation at the age of 17 when Yunhee Hospital paid sponsored her for the costs of the operation. Her muscular frame made many think she could never be a woman, but in fact this made her recovery quicker and she was able to get up and walk around just four days after he operation.

Despite being taunted by her boxing peers, her family have stuck by her. Now semi-retired from boxing, she runs a business selling cosmetics and boxing gear for women. Since her operation, Nong Toom has gone from strength to strength, and adopted a baby girl a few years ago. She also had a film made about her, called Beautiful Boxer, which was attended by the King of Thailand’s sister. Nong Toom continues to fight for her right to be known as a woman in Thailand, and her story of courage is one that everyone in Thailand and beyond can take inspiration from.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 25th, 2006 at 6:08 pm and is filed under About Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.