Friday, October 23, 2009

Cambodia changes squad for Asian indoor games events

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 23, 2009 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will sent a delegation of 40 athletes and sports officials to the third Asian Indoor Games (AIG), to be held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 9 in Vietnam, local media reported on Friday.

Cambodian National Olympic Committe of Cambodia (NOCC) staff member and games coordinator for the Cambodian AIG contingent Touch Sopheak was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that the Kingdom will send 10 more than originally planned thanks to the support of Vietnam, who provides logistic support for accommodation, transportation and catering.

"We will be competing in five events, namely Chinese chess, vovinam, aerobics, petangue and shuttle cock," said Touch Sopheak.

The games coordinator said that these five sports were the only ones whose federations had completed registration forms.

The committee had previously planned to compete in table tennis, badminton, wrestling, judo, futsal and indoor volleyball, but were forced to pull out, according to the Post.

"Some of the events we intended to enter are not included in the games," explained Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of the NOCC. "Besides, the AIG is not our top priority, so we are only sending high-performing athletes that are medal hopefuls."

Cambodia's best chance of medals comes in petanque and shuttle cock, a game similar to badminton but played with the feet. Sok Chamean won a gold medal in pentaque in men's singles at the 2007 SEA Games held in Thailand. He also combined with Ok Chimi to grab gold in men's doubles, while Ouk Sreymom and Ke Leng took silver in women's doubles. Chea Sreymeas is a bronze medalist in shuttle cock.

Cambodian shuttle cock team has already gone to Vietnam for training ahead of the games, while other delegates will depart via the Moc Bai order on October 28. They will split into two at the border, with one group travelling to Hanoi while the others heading to Ho Chi Minh City for their respective events.

Touch Sopheak is optimistic of a good show from athletes at the tournament. "We hope to do well in this competition," he said. "Our athletes have been training hard, so we are hoping to win in some of the events."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Anyone know how many non-athletes will accompany these athletes?