Cambodian gymnastic athletes at the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam in May. CAMSOC
Cambodia is getting ready to send a total of 161 national athletes in 12 sports to train in China over the long term to strengthen their techniques and abilities in order to better compete for medals in the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, which Cambodia will host.
Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of the Cambodian SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC), said that sending Cambodian athletes to train on a large scale in China is being done following an offer of help from the Chinese side and the team will leave in early August.
Chamroeun said the athletes will train there until close to the start of the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, and it is an important opportunity for them to strengthen their techniques and abilities in order to compete for medals for the nation.
“The goal is for our athletes to get experience and the right kind of training, which is strong, tough and technologically advanced. By sending our athletes to train in China, we hope they gain some new skills,” he told The Post on July 18.
“Our athletes will have the opportunity to learn the best techniques from this mission, so they will be successful at the 2023 SEA Games. But success depends on the athletes themselves and how sharp they are psychologically, how much pain they can endure, how well they manage their emotions and how motivated they are in order to gain maximum benefit from the upcoming training in China,” he added.
Athletes from 12 sports will be training in China early next month – 11 swimmers, 25 women’s football players, 15 women’s volleyball players, 15 men’s basketball players, 11 gymnasts, 12 badminton players, 15 wrestlers, 10 weightlifters, 10 wushu martial artists, 5 judo practitioners, 10 table-tennis players and 22 others for a total of 161 people.
At the same time, Cambodia also plans to send national team athletes in a number of other sports to train abroad: Members of the judo and karate teams will be sent to train in Japan, taekwondo team members will be trained in Korea and pencak silat martial arts competitors will be trained in Indonesia.
“When sending athletes to train abroad, we send them to the countries that are strong in their sport. In fact, the 12 sports that we have sent to train in China were chosen because that country is strong in those sports. However, we will continue to monitor how well they have done after training in China and how many medals they win for the nation,” said Chamroeun.
“[We] have all been preparing . . . to help our athletes go out and train and compete abroad as much as possible, and hopefully this will get good results and help us win medals,” he said.
The Gymnastics Federation of Cambodia, which set a new record by winning three silver and one bronze medals for the first time at the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam in May, said it is confident that sending athletes to train in China will improve their technique and help them to compete for medals in 2023.
