Mission chief calls on nat’l teams to maintain fighting spirits at Games
CAMBODIA’s SEA Games chief of mission Vath Chamroeun told representatives of all national sport federations who will participate in the upcoming SEA Games in Vietnam to motivate and encourage their teams to build strong courageous fighting spirits. He urged them to strive for technical excellence, as well as win medals for the nation.
With the games being the main target, Chamroeun – also secretarygeneral of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia – held a meeting with representatives of the 33 national sports federations on discuss any issues and make sure that the trip to Vietnam will go well.
“Today’s meeting – held under the guidance of [Minister of Tourism] Thong Khon, games delegate president – is to send a message to all sports federations that they should be well-prepared and make sure their athletes are healthy and safe before they fly to the games. The federations must have the required documentation prepared and make sure that all necessary preparations are completed before the games begin,” he said.
He encouraged the federations to make sure they had clear information on dates of departures, match days and venues for each event from the Vietnamese organisers. They should each assign a competent management team, as joint cooperation between all federations and the national team’s leadership would prove crucial in making sure their participation went smoothly.
“Most importantly, we need to focus on the athletes. They are the protagonists and the ones who have to take up the fight in the search for technical excellence and success, so they must be adequately prepared – both physically and mentally,” he said. “We should focus on their spirits. The athletes have to be strong and courageous, all while maintaining the high skill levels we know they possess. They must be motivated with a fighting spirit that drives them to give all they can.”
“I would like to once again send a message to all the Cambodian national athletes who carry our hopes ahead of the games. We need to do our very best to take care of their health and ensure that they remain disciplined. May our participation in the SEA Games go safely and may we return to the kingdom with the victories
that we all dream of,” he added.
According to the official delegates list seen by The Post on April 19, Cambodia will compete in 33 sports at this year’s SEA Games with a total of 550 delegates.
The Kingdom will send 237 male and 126 female athletes, 93 coaches or assistant coaches and 19 doctors. Sixteen referees and 35 sports officials will be joining the trip – along with 22 chairman or secretary-generals of specific sporting bodies.
Four members of the Cambodian Anti-Doping Agency will accompany the team.
The 33 sports that Cambodia will compete in Vietnam are divided into three categories.
The first (Compulsory Sports), includes athletics, swimming, and finswimming.
The second (Olympic and Asian) is comprised of gymnastics (aerobics), shooting, taekwondo, cycling, fencing, judo, wushu, wrestling,
boxing, karate, dancing, triathlon, jujitsu, weightlifting, canoeing/ kayak, football (U20), volleyball (board and beach, basketball (3x3 and 5x5), sepak takraw, table tennis and golf.
The third (Local and traditional Sports) features Vovinam, Kun Khmer boxing, Kickboxing, Petanque and Bodybuilding.
Billiards, snooker, E-sports and Xiangqi competitions will also be entered.