Thailand is set to have its first ever canoe sprint athlete at an Olympic Games after the host nation secured the Tokyo 2020 quota in the women’s C1 200 event at the Asian Canoe Confederation qualifiers in Pattaya on Thursday.

Orasa Thiangkathok made history when she crossed the line ahead of Uzbekistan’s Gulbakhor Fayzieva, with Indonesia’s Dayumin Dayumin finishing third.

Five countries shared the Olympic quotas available on the final day of racing in Thailand, with Korea, Japan, Iran and China joining the host nation in securing tickets to this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

In the closest finish of the day, Kazakhstan’s Inna Klinova held out Japan’s Yuka Ono and Singapore’s Jiexian Stephenie Chen for victory in the women’s K1 200. However because Kazakhstan had already secured the quota in the women’s K1 500, the Tokyo ticket will now go to Japan.

China’s Pengfei Zheng was the most impressive winner on the day, finishing almost six seconds ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Kuan-Chieh Lai in the men’s C1 1000. Iran’s Adel Mojallalimoghadam finished third.

But Iran did secure a quota in the men’s K1 1000, with Ali Aghamirzaeijanaghrad edging out Uzbekistan’s Shakhriyor Makhkamov and Japan’s Taishi Tanada.

Korea picked up its Olympic quota in the men’s K1 200, courtesy of a close win to Gwanghee Cho ahead of Kazakhstan’s Sergii Tokarnytski and Uzbekistan’s Denis Onufriev.

At the conclusion of the two days of competition, Kazakhstan has three Olympic quotas, China has two, and there are single quotas for Thailand, Korea, Japan and Iran.

All quotas are subject to ratification from the athlete’s canoe federation, their national Olympic committee and the ICF.