Saturday, 17 October 2009

Cambodia launches committee to prepare for SEA Games



October 16, 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 16 — The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) announced the formation of the Cambodian SEA Games Organizing Committee on Wednesday, to be chaired by NOCC Vice President Bun Sok, who is also secretary of state at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, local media reported on Friday.


The committee consists of representatives of various Olympic sports federations and will be responsible for final screening and selection of athletes to represent Cambodia at the Southeast Asian Games in Laos in December.

Nhan Sokvisal, the SEA Games coordinator, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that Cambodia is looking forward to better their medals haul from the last SEA Games in Thailand in 2007.

"We won two gold, five silver and 12 bronze medals in the last games, and so we want to improve on that," he said.

According to Nhan Sokvisal, Cambodia will contest in 17 sports, with expectations of medals in petanque, athletics, tennis, wrestling, boxing, taekwondo and beach volleyball.

As part of the preparation for December, the athletics and taekwondo athletes have travelled to Korea to undergo intensive training courtesy of the Incheon City of Korea Support Program, while other athletes will complete training in Vietnam.

"We have a goal, and our goal is to win more medals than we have done before," Nhan Sokvisal said. "To do this, we have to prepare hard, and provide adequate training and support for our athletes."

Meanwhile, the SEA Games organizing committee has announced the cancellation of 13 categories in selected events, affecting sports such as karate, wushu sanshou, pencak silat, wrestling and weightlifting.

However, NOCC Secretary General Vath Chamroeun has assured that the Cambodian delegation has not been affected at all by the cuts.

"There is no problem for us," he said. "Our preparation is in progress." (PNA/Xinhua) vcs/utb

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