Mae Sai: The Wild Boars football team returned to their training session here for the first time Thursday since their coach and 12 teammates went missing in a Thai cave and the boys cannot wait to see their friends back on the pitch.
“I want to tell the guys that I miss them and that I want to hug them,” Wild Boars player Supaghid Pragaihong told this agency. “I wish them a speedy recovery so we can play football together again.”
The boys, all aged between 11 and 16 along with their 25-year-old coach went missing June 23 after they had set out to explore the cave complex to celebrate a boy’s birthday. The Thai Navy SEAL along with British divers rescued them July 10.
However, though the group are healthy and in good spirits, they remain in an isolation ward waiting for the medical all-clear after more than two weeks stuck deep underground in an environment where they could have been exposed to nasty diseases.
Back in the boys’ hometown of Mae Sai the rest of the team stopped practicing since the group went missing, as the area’s residents kept an anxious vigil around the cave’s entrance. The other team members returned only to the field Thursday evening under head coach Nopparat Khantavong after knowing that their friends were safely rescued.
Meanwhile, the Thai authorities have planned to set up a museum to the daring rescue operation at the cave site while a Hollywood production house has also announced plans for a film version of the group’s ordeal.
