Career
She started competing in 2002. In the first round of the Women"s Under 49 kg event she defeated Brigitte Yague of Spain, and in the quarterfinal was defeated by Yanelis Yuliet Labrada Diaz of Cuba. Many Thais claim that Yaowapa, one of the most popular athletes among Thais, has frequently been victimized by wayward officiating.
Besides her loss to Diaz in Athens, she also lost to Lim Su-Jeong, a Korean exponent, in a gold-medal match at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South of Korea, and was defeated in the first round at the 2005 South East Asian Games in the Philippines by Loraine Lorelie Catalan, a Filipino exponent.
Thai officials have claimed she was cheated by the judges in these matches, especially the matches involving exponents from the host nation.