Cambodia bullish after Games haul

PHNOM PENH • Cambodia will host the SEA Games for the first time next May, and the Morodok Techo National Stadium will be the centrepiece venue for the event.

As hosts of the biennial regional competition, Cambodia will be expected to climb up the medal table, after their 560-member contingent finished eighth out of 11 nations in Vietnam.

Having surpassed their previous SEA Games record with a 63-medal haul at the 31st edition which concluded last Sunday, the country's authorities are confident they are on the right track.

The previous record for Cambodia was the 53 medals won at the 1971 South-east Asian Peninsular Games in Kuala Lumpur, while in Hanoi, their athletes earned 17 more medals than their previous haul in 2019 in the Philippines.

On his return from Vietnam on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tea Banh, who is also the president of the Cambodian SEA Games organising committee, said: "This is the first time in our history that Cambodia has won the most medals, up to 63 including nine gold, 13 silver and 41 bronze medals.

"It is a good sign and we believe our athletes will gain more medals at the 32nd SEA Games to be held in our own country in 2023."

The Games flag was later paraded through the streets of the capital to the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia's office.

Cambodia grabbed gold medals in Vietnamese martial art vovinam (three), petanque (two), and one each in kickboxing, taekwondo, wrestling and muay thai in Vietnam.

With the country's national martial art of kun bokator set to be included next year, the Cambodia Kun Bokator Federation is targeting seven to 10 gold medals for its exponents.

"Our primary goal is to win that many medals in 21 disciplines," Our Dara, its secretary-general, told The Khmer Times.

XINHUA