In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 12 December 1989
- Birthplace
- Laos
- Country
- Laos
- Nationality
- Lao
- Known for
- Winning powerlifting gold at the 2018 Asian Para Games
- Sport
- Para powerlifting
- Title
- 2018 Asian Para Games champion
- Event
- Men’s up to 49 kg
- Winning lift
- 133 kg
Why this life matters
Pia Laophakdee gave Laos a rare Asian Para Games gold and continued competing in world and regional para powerlifting.
Timeline
Key moments
Guangzhou result entry
OpenPowerlifting’s compilation lists 125 kilograms and seventh place; this is not a verified career-debut date.
Incheon result entry
Compiled results list 143 kilograms and fifth place in the men’s 54-kilogram class.
Fourth in Kitakyushu
Recorded 130 kilograms in the Asia-Oceania Open men’s 49-kilogram event.
Asian Para Games champion
Completed 133 kilograms to win the men’s 49-kilogram title in Jakarta.
World and Tokyo events
Competed at the world championships and placed second at a Tokyo test event.
Returned at Hangzhou
Placed ninth in Hangzhou with a best successful lift of 121 kilograms.
A documented career before the Jakarta breakthrough
Pia Laophakdee was born on 12 December 1989 and competes for Laos in the lightest men’s para-powerlifting divisions. OpenPowerlifting’s compiled results list him at Guangzhou 2010 with 125 kilograms in the 52-kilogram class and Incheon 2014 with 143 kilograms in the 54-kilogram class. These database entries suggest an earlier competitive history, but they are not original federation result books.
The IPC’s contemporary Jakarta report called the final his first competitive event and said he had taken up powerlifting six months earlier. Yet the federation’s Kitakyushu result book records him competing on 8 September 2018, a month before Jakarta. That primary record contradicts the debut claim without treating the older database entries as original federation documents.
The 133-kilogram lift that won Asian gold
One month before the 2018 Asian Para Games, Laophakdee entered the World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championships in Kitakyushu. He weighed 48.31 kilograms, completed 130 kilograms and ranked fourth in the men’s up-to-49-kilogram open and regional standings. The result showed that he was close to a continental podium but still faced lifters producing substantially heavier totals. Jakarta created a different field and a narrow opportunity, which he converted under pressure.
Laophakdee opened the Asian Para Games final at 125 kilograms and then completed 128. India’s Farman Basha also reached 128, making the third attempt decisive. Both men requested 133 kilograms. Laophakdee received three white lights for a valid lift; Basha’s final attempt was ruled unsuccessful. The five-kilogram advantage gave Laos the gold medal, and the official result sheet records Laophakdee at a body weight of 48.30 kilograms. It was a precise contest decided not by reputation but by one completed final attempt.
World-level competition and a long regional record
The Asian title did not end his international programme. At the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Laophakdee completed 128 kilograms and placed fifteenth in the men’s 49-kilogram class. In September he lifted 132 kilograms at the Ready Steady Tokyo test event, finishing second behind South Korea’s Choi Keun-jin. Those results did not reproduce the Jakarta title, but they situated the Lao champion within deeper global fields and kept him active during the qualification period before the Tokyo Paralympics.
Laophakdee was still representing Laos at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, held in 2023. The official result book records successful lifts of 115, 117 and 121 kilograms and ninth place in the same 49-kilogram category. Across the available record—from Guangzhou and Incheon to Jakarta and Hangzhou—his career illustrates both the persistence required to remain in elite para powerlifting and the exceptional nature of the day when a 133-kilogram lift produced one of Laos’s most significant continental para-sport titles.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Pia Laophakdee
- What did Pia Laophakdee win in 2018?
- He won the Asian Para Games men’s up-to-49-kilogram powerlifting gold in Jakarta on 7 October, with a best valid lift of 133 kilograms.
- Does the 49 kg category mean he lifted only 49 kilograms?
- No. It is the athlete’s body-weight category. Laophakdee weighed 48.30 kilograms at the Jakarta event and completed a 133-kilogram lift.
- Was Jakarta 2018 definitely his first competition?
- No. Although an IPC news account described it that way, the federation’s official Kitakyushu result book records him competing a month earlier. Older 2010 and 2014 entries are separately identified as compiled results.
- Was his 2018 gold a Paralympic Games medal?
- No. It was an Asian Para Games title. The regional Games, World Championships and Tokyo 2019 test event are different competitions; none of those results alone establishes a Paralympic Games appearance.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Eay Simay
Explore an earlier Lao para-powerlifting career and its distinct Paralympic history.
- Silina Pha Aphay
Compare a different Lao athlete in Olympic sprinting, not para powerlifting.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. International Paralympic CommitteeIndonesia 2018: debut delight for Laos
- 2. OpenPowerlifting · compiled databaseGuangzhou 2010: compiled men’s 52 kg result entry
This compilation, not the former federation link to Kuala Lumpur Worlds, supplies the Guangzhou 2010 entry. The earlier official link covered a different competition and has been removed. Indexed database rows were checked; they are not mislabelled as original federation sheets.
- 3. World Para PowerliftingKitakyushu 2018 Asia-Oceania Open result book
The official 8 September 2018 row identifies Laophakdee, SDMS 14563, born 12 December 1989, with 130 kg and fourth place. It independently contradicts the October article’s first-competition account.
- 4. Asian Para Games Result SystemJakarta 2018 men’s 49 kg official result list
The indexed official 7 October result sheet supports body weight, attempts and the gold result. Direct PDF retrieval failed; a newly inspected full result book is not claimed.
- 5. World Para PowerliftingNur-Sultan 2019 World Championships result book
- 6. Asian Paralympic CommitteeHangzhou Asian Para Games powerlifting result book
The indexed official Hangzhou row records 115, 117 and 121 kg and ninth place. Direct retrieval failed; the entire multi-sport official report exceeded access limits and was not newly audited.
- 7. OpenPowerlifting · compiled databaseIncheon 2014: compiled men’s 54 kg results
The compiled entry lists fifth place and 143 kg. Database display units can vary; the indexed kilogram row is used. The previously asserted 2015 ASEAN silver was not newly substantiated and is omitted.
- 8. World Para Powerlifting / Russian Paralympic Committee mirrorNur-Sultan 2019 official results: men’s 49 kg, mirrored PDF
- 9. Japan Para Powerlifting Federation · official result-sheet mirrorReady Steady Tokyo 2019 official results: men’s 49 kg
The indexed September 2019 sheet lists 132 kg and second place behind Choi Keun Jin. Competing at a test event is not evidence of participation in the later Paralympic Games.
