Seavmey ‘should train in SK ahead of Games’

Sorn Seavmey’s long-time coach Choi Yong Sok has suggested to the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia to keep the taekwondo star training in South Korea before sending her to the SEA Games in Malaysia in mid-August.

The Kingdom is hoping the 2014 Asian Games Gold medallist will strike it rich despite her last-16 loss two days ago and exit from the World Championships in the South Korean city of Muju.

In a post-tournament assessment to Secretary-General of the NOCC Vath Chamroeun, Choi Yong Sok said he was disappointed by the outcome but not disheartened, contending a niggling knee injury was partly to blame for her less than peak physical condition, though he maintained it was not an excuse.

“She was mentally strong and tried to make up in good technique for the optimum physical strength she could not muster against a superior rival.

“I feel she needs to summon a lot more strength and there could be no better place than South Korea to achieve that,” Choi Yong Sok reportedly told the NOCC secretary-general.

It was nearly a year ago that Seavmey hurt herself in South Korea during practice. Though she got back to her regular routines fairly quickly, she has not been able to completely overcome its impact, and according to her coach it has been troubling her on and off.

South Korea’s Rio Olympics gold medallist Oh Hye-ri easily got the measure of Seavmey 18-9 in the women’s -73 kg, the same weight category that Seavmey will be competing in at the Malaysian SEA Games.

In the wake of her historic triumph in the Incheon Asian Games, Seavmey was widely tipped for a SEA Games gold in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, but she decided to stay away as there wasn’t a suitable weight class for her.

Instead, she focused hard on achieving the Olympic qualification for the Rio Games and succeeded in becoming the first ever atlete from the Kingdom to earn that distinction.

Though she was buoyed by her success in the Asian Championships in the run up to Rio, she came up short in the Olympics against Reshmie Oogink of the Netherlands.
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