Bangkok, Thailand, July 4, 2021: One of the most popular volleyball players in Asia – Thailand’s Nootsara Tomkom – has become the eighth player in the world to reach 1 million followers on Instagram, Volleyball World reports.
The 35-year-old setter, whose No. 13 shirt has proved to be unlucky for many opponents of the dynamic Thai women’s team, reached the milestone on one of the world’s biggest social media platforms.
Nootsara has enjoyed a sparkling career for club and country, including 10 consecutive gold medals for Thailand from 2001 to 2019 in the Southeast Asian Games. She also has a silver and a bronze medal from the Asian Games in 2018 and 2014, respectively.
At club level she has won a string of honours in the lucrative Azerbaijan and Turkish leagues and individual awards for her skills as a setter directing the fast and flowing Thai attacks.
Volleyball World lists Iran’s Saeid Marouf as having the most Instagram followers with 1.8 million, followed by the Philippines’ Alyssa Valdez with 1.3 million and Brazil’s Bruno Rezende on 1.1 million.
A star of the recently completed 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, the Thai setter and the “Fab 6” were playing their final tournament together with fans cheering for them all around the world.
Nootsara joins Thai teammate Pleumjit Thinkaow, Marouf and Seyed Mousavi of Iran, Valdez of the Philippines, Rezende and Jaqueline Carvalho of Brazil and Kazakhstan’s Sabina Altynbekova as the most followed volleyball players on Instagram.