Blue Sea and Green City will be the main theme of this year’s three-day Sea Festival, to be held from December 12 in the coastal town of Koh Kong, bordering Thailand.
First launched three years ago in the port city of Sihanoukville to mark Cambodia’s membership of the elite 1,000 Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club, the festival has attained the cultural significance that is traditionally attached to other special annual celebratory events in the national calendar.
Last year Kep and Kampot jointly hosted the festival, which now moves along the pristine coastline to one of the country’s popular tourist and holiday destinations, with a border post that facilitates movements of thousands each day between Cambodia and Thailand.
“Respect for sea and environment is the main message we would like to convey through this festival,” National Olympic Committee of Cambodia secretary-general Vath Chamroeun told the Post yesterday.
“The local administration in Koh Kong is very enthusiastic about organising this event and are looking forward to huge participation of people from nearby provinces. Koh Kong is a bit far off but we still expect the large gathering we had seen in both Sihanoukville and Kep,” he added.
Its proximity to Thailand, however, has given Koh Kong the unique opportunity of inviting Thai competitors to be part of some of the sporting events staged during the festival.
Apart from Duathlon (running and cycling race) and fun runs (over 3km and 5km), the festival will feature traditional wrestling, beach volleyball, Cambodian chess, bokator and cycling with normal bikes. For sea adventure seekers, there will be jet skiing, paragliding and open swimming.
The festival is not all fun and frolic on the sporting front – there will be food courts all over to appease the taste buds. On offer will be a wide variety of local food with multinational cuisine thrown in.
Lottery sop for athletes
Members of the Cambodian contingent to the Incheon Asian Games were made to feel lucky recently with the National Lottery dishing out some cash rewards for their efforts.
The glittering gold that Sorn Seavmey struck in taekwondo got the biggest reward – the 19-year-old was granted US$7,000, while her coach Choi Yung Sok received $3,000.
Individuals and teams who had at least one win to their name got $300 each. All the other participating members and coaches were each given $100.
Royal invite for taekwondo star
The new star on Cambodia’s sports horizon, Sorn Seavmey, has been invited by the Royal Palace to meet the King and the Queen Mother. The royal audience for Seavmey is scheduled for this Saturday.
It may be recalled that the Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cabinet colleagues hosted a warm reception on October 5 for Seavmey upon her arrival from South Korea as Cambodia’s first Asian games gold medal winner.
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