• Society

Cambodia Eyes Inclusion of Chess, Kun Khmer, Labokator in Asian Youth Games 

• By Kim Makara
• January 9, 2024 2:15 PM

PHNOM PENH – Cambodia will press for the inclusion of its traditional and potential sports into the competition when it hosts the Asian Youth Games in 2029, despite facing two main hurdles, says a top sports official.

As the host, Cambodia has the right to ask the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) — the governing body — to add its sports to the Games, said Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC).

Chamroeun said that Khmer chess and two martial arts, kun Khmer and kun labokator, are national identity sports which Cambodia proposes to be included in the Games.

Cambodia only has right to organise the competition. The OCA has the power to determine whether the sports should be included.

“We must try to persuade the participating countries, especially the OCA which governs the Asian Youth Games. We have to deal with this because the decision on the sports and disciplines of the Asian Games is not on the host. 

“However, the host has the right to protest and push for any sport that is their national identity or any sport that has potential. It’s not that we have to follow them 100 percent. We need to have a communication mechanism between the host and the owner,” he said.

Such a push is not easy since OCA has its guidelines and regulations which are not the same as the SEA Games when Cambodia successfully included the three sports.  

“We must advocate strongly and face more difficulty than that of the SEA Games,” the top official said.

Cambodia must also gather support from countries in the continent for the proposal.

While kun Khmer is easier since there is broad recognition with many country members, there is concern over the participation of Khmer chess and kun labokator. 

Chamroeun said that big countries including China, Japan and South Korea haven’t recognized or become members of the two sports. 

“For kun Khmer martial arts, we are not worried because there are many members in Asia. That means we are qualified and the only question is whether those countries support the inclusion or not,” he said. 

“But our labokator is still small in membership. There are only 10 member countries in both ASEAN and Asia. And our chess is even harder. We are in a situation where we have to build up momentum because chess has very few members. 

“We already have some members in ASEAN but it is less than 10 countries. So, we encourage our members to get more involved. The more members, the better the power of advocacy,” he said.

 

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this article was translated by Torn Chanritheara for Cambodianess.