• Society

Sport Official Pins Hopes on Chinese Training

• By Mom Pitu
• March 12, 2024 11:55 AM

PHNOM PENH – A senior sport official has expressed hope that China will provide scholarships for Cambodian athletes to train in China as Cambodia gears up for regional and Asian youth games in the next five years.

Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia met on Mar. 11 with diplomats from the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh to discuss the capacity-building plan.

Chamroeun said Cambodia had asked to send a second batch of 160 athletes to China for long-term training from 2024 to 2029 to strengthen their ability to prepare for the SEA Games in Thailand and Asian Youth Games 2029 which Cambodia will host. 

Young athletes between the ages of 12 and 14 will train in China in preparation for the youth games.

“The second project has been submitted to the Chinese side and China will study and evaluate the project,” he said, believing that the Chinese side would agree to the second proposal because China viewed the first project as 100 percent successful. 

The Chinese diplomat said that it would take between two to four weeks to study the proposal.

The request came as the training had shown positive signs during the SEA Games in 2023 when Cambodia hosted the biennial for the first time.

Cambodian athletes had achieved good results after training in China, the sport official said.

Cambodia won 282 medals including 81 gold, 74 silver and 127 bronze during the event. The country has aimed to maintain the momentum at the next games in Thailand.

With such an achievement, Chamroeun, also Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education, hoped the Chinese side would continue to provide additional assistance to Cambodian athletes to train in China to promote the development of sports in Cambodia and to foster closer ties.

In 2022, the National Organizing Committee of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games 2023 sent 161 Cambodian athletes for long-term training in China to compete for medals at the 32nd SEA Games. 

Even after the 2023 SEA Games, some athletes returned to China to complete a two-year grant agreement while some returned after their contracts expired.

The plan is for 160 athletes to be sent to China to train in 22 sports. They will be divided into two groups, one for the 2029 Asian Youth Games in Cambodia and the other for the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand and subsequent SEA Games in 2027 and 2029.

Most of the athletes preparing for the SEA Games are adults, while the athletes preparing for the 2029 Asian Youth Games will mostly be aged between 12 and 14 as of 2024. 

Chamroeun said that according to the Olympic conditions, the Asian Youth Games requires athletes to be between 17 and 19 years old to compete.



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