Cambodia leaves turmoil for Games

Cambodia leaves turmoil for Games

As the 19th SEA Games draw near, The Jakarta Post will run a
profile of each the 10 participating countries starting on Oct.
3. The story below is the second in the series.

JAKARTA (JP): Cambodian athletes are heading here for the 19th
SEA Games, shrugging off the domestic political turmoil which
almost slumped the country back into its past nightmare.

It is obvious that despite its modest preparations that
Cambodia, only an occasional participant of the SEA Games, shows
a strong determination to participate this time, and to take home
some medals.

Members of the Cambodian squad are arriving separately, but
all 76 male athletes, two female athletes and 36 officials should
be here by Oct. 7, -- giving them four days to acclimatize before
the Games begin.

They will compete in track and field, badminton, billiards and
snooker, boxing, soccer, judo, karate, sepak takraw, shooting,
swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and beach volleyball
events.

And Cambodia is set to win medals in boxing, track and field
and swimming. Boxing and judo gave it a bronze apiece in the
previous meet in Chiang Mai, Thailand two years ago.

Chiang Mai marked the return of Cambodia to the biennial event
after missing for two decades due to civil war and a spell of
national recovery and consolidation.

Four years of war between 1975 and 1979 devastated most of the
sports facilities built by the French colonial administration in
the country.

After the war, reconstruction of the facilities was painfully
slow as the country fell short of sponsorship to finance the
project.

Cambodia used to take part in the then Southeast Peninsula
(SEAP) Games, and made its debut in the second episode of these
Games in Rangoon, Burma in December 1961. For such a newcomer,
winning a gold, six silvers and four bronzes was worthy of
praise.

Financial shortages prevented the country from playing host to
the Games twice in 1963 and 1967, but to everybody's surprise it
accepted the offer to stage the Games of New Emerging Forces
(Ganefo) in 1966.

Cambodia made its last appearance in the SEAP Games in 1973,
and it took 22 years to come back to the sporting event which had
changed its name to the SEA Games.

For Cambodians, boxing is not a strange event, thanks to its
sporting heritage called Khmer boxing, a traditional martial art
which is similar to the more popular Thai boxing.

National boxing coach, Chhom Charry said that due to their
modest preparations, his team's victory would be determined only
by their fighting spirit.

"The team are trained in a simple manner. We even have to use
shoes and gloves by turns. But we are ready to perform better
than we did in the last SEA Games in Chiang Mai," Charry was
quoted by Kompas as saying.

Cambodia is setting its sights on taking two silvers with
light flyweight Van Darith and Seap Vanna who will contest the
flyweight division. Darith won the bronze in Chiang Mai.

To fulfill their ambitions, Charry sent the two boxers for a
stint in Japan.

Other than the two boxers, Charry will field six out of his
eight second-string prodigies.

In track and field, Cambodia is hoping to grab medals in the
5,000-meter, 10-kilometer and marathon races, according to coach
Chary Kimsan.

Kimsan said that the country would rely solely on its male
runners, such as middle-distance specialist Chhing Pisseth who
will run in 5,000m. Two other runners are Pich Kong and Chhyn
Doag who will race in 10km.

Kong clocked 35.34 seconds, followed by Doag in 35.29 in the
national championships in April.

In the marathon, the country relied on Hout Peou, who ranked
seventh in Chiang Mai. Peou's clocked two hours and 47 minutes.

Sprinter Kong Bona was expected to beat his record. Bona
clocked his best time of 11.20 in 100m and 22.26 in 200m.

Separately, national swimming trainer Ouh Samouth said
Cambodia expected to grab at least one bronze from 100m and 200m
men's freestyle specialist Hem Kiri in the Games.

Kiri's brother, Hem Lumphat, is expected to steal a medal in
the 100m breaststroke, Samouth said.

She said Hem Rasmey was the only woman swimmer she expected to
win medals -- in either the 50m, 100m freestyle or 200m
individual medley. (09)