Cambodian Athletes at the 16th Asian Games - 2010 Guangzhou

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2010 Asian Games



The 2010 Asian Games, also known as the XVI Asiad, are scheduled to take place in Guangzhou, China from November 12 to November 27, 2010. Guangzhou is the second city in China to host the Games after Beijing in 1990. A total of 476 events in 42 sports will be contested by athletes, making it the largest event in history of the Games. It will also be the last one to have presented such big events, as the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have enforced new hosting rules for future games, beginning with the 2014 Games.

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Athletes set for Asian Games

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 15:00
H S Manjunath

THE National Olympic Committee of Cambodia will be represented by a 46 member-strong contingent of athletes, officials and delegates at the 16th Asian Games to be held from November 12 to 27 in Guanzhou, the second city in China to host the event after Beijing in 1990.

The biggest games ever, involving 476 events in 42 disciplines, has attracted 45 members of the Olympic Council of Asia, with participating athletes touching a record number of 8,000 accompanied by 4,500 officials.

Twenty20 Cricket is among the debutant sports along with Dancesport, Dragon Boat, Weiqi and Roller Sport.

Releasing the Kingdom’s list of participants including eight women, the NOCC General Secretary Vath Chamroeun said it was by far the biggest squad ever sent. “We have more athletes and more disciplines, and the recent success of a Judo bronze medal by Sam Sothea at the Youth Olympic Games has given us new impetus and changed perceptions about how Cambodian athletes are looked at.”

Cambodia will be taking part in eight disciplines – Athletics, Boxing, Swimming, Taekwondo, Beach Volleyball, Chinese Chess, Tennis and Wrestling.

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NOCC contingent

ATHLETICS: Sar Churpveasna and Hem Bunthing. Coach: Phay Sok.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Samath Vannasak, Mon Rom, Taing Mengheak, Nget Sothearith. Coaches: Ky Mengham and Chum Ratha.

BOXING: Phal Sophat, Svay Ratha. Coach: Ven Sophal.

CHESS: Lay Chhay, Heng Chamnan. Coach: Gao Feng.

SWIMMING: Hemthon Vitiny, Hemthon Ponloeu. Coach: Hem Lumphat.

TAEKWONDO: Chhoeung Puthearim, Sorn Davin, Chhoy Bouthorn, You Kanika ( Moon Kyusun: Personal coach). Coach: Choi Yongsok

TENNIS: Bun Kenny, Orn Sambath. Coach: Braen Aneiros.

WRESTLING: Kang Danpiseth, Chov Sotheara, Chum Chivinn, Try Sothavy. Coaches: Thin Vichet and Paek Su Nam.

The other members of the Cambodian delegation are: NOCC Executive Members: Thong Khon (President), Nouth Saan (Third delegate), Vath Chamroeun (Secretary General), Khek M Caimealy (Ambassador), Top Panha (Accompanying guest of the President), Sok Ang (Chef de mission), Lun Samedy (Deputy CDM), Hout Chantheany (Doctor), Lor Meng (NOC HQ), Gabriel Ken Gadaffi (Press Attache), Rat Sokhorn (Table Tennis delegate), Tep Rithivit (Tennis delegate), Chris Fosinetti (Tennis delegate).

[KlaKhmer]

CHESS : ?
<== This ? Is it a sport ?

[AsianDragons]

[SeeMacau]

Yes, Chess usually included in the Asian Games

[bokator]

Wish the best for our athletes !

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Thumb's up for Asian Games success

Friday, 05 November 2010 15:00
Post Staff

National Olympic Committee of Cambodia President Thong Khon hands a cash gift to local boxers competing in the upcoming Asian Games at the National Sports Complex yesterday. In a goodwill gesture, the top brass of the NOCC paid a visit to the preparatory camps of all nine Guangzhou-bound sports federations. “We wanted to show our appreciation for the efforts being put in by our sportsmen and women,” said Thong Khon at the Boxing Federation’s training facility, the NOCC group’s last stop. “We wanted to ensure that everything was going smoothly and to give them token monetary gifts to encourage them.” Teams from the Kingdom participating in the Asian Games, which runs from November 12 to 27, include Chinese chess, wrestling, tae kwon do, table tennis, beach volleyball, athletics, swimming, tennis and boxing.

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Cambodia looking forward to Guangzhou Asian Games

by Zhang Ruiling, Lei Bosong

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- "Cambodian athletes are gearing up for the forthcoming Asian Games and looking forward to take part in such great event to be held in Guangzhou, China on Nov. 12, 2010," Vath Chamroeun, Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia told Xinhua in an interview.

"As a friendly neighbor of China, Cambodia sincerely hopes that the Guangzhou Asian Games will be successful," Vath Chamroeun added.

Vath said that since peace was restored nearly 20 years and the steady social and economic development under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia's sports sector is stepping forward and has been under reform in recent years - the reform toward advancement and toward a specific administrative mechanism.

"So we can see that the activities of training as well as the activities of the federations are being feverish (active) with actively participating from private sector, from the public, more interestingly, more and more youth in playing sports as well as supporting sports sector," he said.

"In recent years, we have organized more and more regional tournaments in the country, meanwhile, sent more and more athletes to take part in the national and international competitions, such as the ASEAN table tennis tournament, this reflected a progress and we are proud of this achievement," he added.

"Before we dare not to host, now we try to host in all types of tournaments, try to host international tournaments gradually," he stressed.

"This is the noticeable and proud progress in our sports sector; however, we still have a long way to go to achieve what we want. We remain low in term of technical level if compared to athletes in the region or world. We need additional capital and additional efforts," he added.

"Our National Olympic Committee will sent a delegation of 35 people to join the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China from Nov. 12-27. Among 35 people include 22 male and female athletes, eight trainers, and five leaders as well as sports officials."

The 17 men and five women athletes will compete in running, boxing, chess, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, beach volleyball and wrestling, and hope to get good results in chess match.

"It is the first time that we have joined in chess sport in the Asian Games," Vath said.

Three groups with four Cambodian athletes apiece are to compete in taekwondo, beach volleyball and wrestling, while the rest with only two athletes of the five groups will compete in other subjects.

"The Asian sports techniques are very high, for example, Chinese athletes are not in the level of Asia, but in the world class, so we will try all our best; I hope the most that we can win is in Chinese chess, besides this, we also have some hope on some sports such as taekwondo and wrestling, it can have chance to gain medals."

Vath Chamroeun highly valued the friendship and cooperation between Cambodia and China in the field of sports.

"Cambodia and China have the history of special friendship, such as the long live friendship between our former King Norodom Sihanouk and the heads of the government of China. These traditional friendship has left as legacy to us all until today, and we have seen that two countries have strengthened the cooperation in various sectors, as well as the cooperation in sports sector," Vath said.

Cambodia's sports sector, in fact, has been assisted many times from China such as last year, China has provided gymnastic equipments to the Gymnastic Federation, at the same time, other federations have also received technical assistance and material assistance such as Wusu, he added.

He also thanked the Chinese tournament organizing committee has sponsored both air-fares and accommodations for 30 Cambodian delegation for the upcoming Asian Game. He hopes the two counties continue to strengthen cooperation on sports technical exchanges and guidance in future to promote Cambodia's level of sports.

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Number of Participants

Athletics : 2
Beach Volleyball : 4
Boxing : 2
Swimmming : 2
Tennis : 2
Taekwondo : 4
Wrestling : 4
Xiangqi : 1

[AsianDragons]

Xiangqi what sorta sport?

[LuvKhm3r]

Originally Posted by KlaKhmer

CHESS : ?
<== This ? Is it a sport ?

HAHAHH...i beat the computer all the time...this is an easy game...

[LuvKhm3r]

best wishes for Cambodia...

[SeeMacau]

Originally Posted by AsianDragons

Xiangqi what sorta sport?

Chinese Chess

[SeeMacau]

Originally Posted by LuvKhm3r

HAHAHH...i beat the computer all the time...this is an easy game...

I'm kind of dumb about this stuff

[SeeMacau]

Asian Games incentive

Cambodian wrestlers Kang Denpiseth (right) and Chov Sotheara walk through customs at Phnom Penh International Airport before departing for the Asian Games in Guangzhou.


Tuesday, 09 November 2010 17:57
H S Manjunath

The Cambodian government have given a major boost to the morale of sports teams bound for the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou by announcing huge cash bonanzas for medalists in any of the eight disciplines the Kingdom is taking part in.

Cambodia joins the list of many countries in the region awarding such bounties for medal winners. The government will award a cash prize of 40 million riels (US$9,640) for a gold medal, 24 million riels for a silver and 18 million riels for a bronze finish in either individual or team events.

“The contingent feels proud and honoured by the encouraging words of the Prime Minister, and they are excited about the incentives being offered for the first time in the history of Cambodia's Asian Games participation,” said Vath Chamroeun, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, as he bid farewell to the departing squad.

Headed by Chef de Mission Sok Ang, the 42-strong delegation comprises participants in tennis, taekwondo, swimming, athletics, boxing, beach volleyball, wrestling and Chinese chess, and are accompanied by trainers and technical staff as well as a few local sports officials.
The NOCC Secretary General has left for Guangzhou, while NOCC President Thong Khon is scheduled to join them Wednesday.

The NOCC has been flooded with good luck messages from various organisations and government agencies, but the most significant one came from the prime minister, who said he was convinced the Cambodian athletes would try their best to enhance the prestige of the country and that their performances would surpass their previous achievements.

Vath Chamrouen said the NOCC was happy with the preparations of the teams. “We do realise that it is a very tough competition among the 45 nations taking part, but we have faith in the competence and commitment of our athletes,” he said.

“Our main medal hope is in Taekwondo. Two of our women performers – Chhoeung Puthearim and Sorn Davin – won gold medals in a Korean competition two months ago, and that raises our expectations. Our chess players are taking part in Chinese chess for the first time, and we have a good perfomer in Heng Chamnan.

“It is unfortunate that table tennis could not make the grade, as the SEA Games performance was set as the threshold for qualification [which they failed to meet]," he added.

Tennis Federation of Cambodia's national team head coach Braen Aneiros felt that the Guangzhou Games could be a game changer for No 1 ranked local player Bun Kenny if he could ride home the recent momentum generated by his performance in Laos, where he picked up his first ATP point. “Bun Kenny will be playing in tough company, and if he does well it could open up new avenues for him,” said Aneiros, who also suggested that 16-year-old teammate Orn Sambath would get good international exposure.

Cambodia made their first appearance in Manila at the 1954 Asian Games, also known as the Asiad. This year’s edition, held in China for the second time after Beijing's hosting in 1990, runs from November 12-27 and features 476 events in 42 different sports.

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Asian Games open floodgates

Artists perform during a rehearsal ahead of today’s opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. This year’s ceremony has a water theme.


Cambodian boxers Phal Sophat (left) and Svay Ratha perform some punching drills under the watchful eye of coach Van Sophal during a training session yesterday morning at the Athlete’s Village in Guangzhou ahead of the Asian Games fights next week.


Friday, 12 November 2010 15:00
Ken Gadaffi

All is set for today’s grand opening of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou under the theme ‘Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia.’ This year’s tournament will be the biggest in the history of the event, according to the Olympic Council of Asia.

The official the official figure of 9,704 athletes - 184 more than the 9,520 who competed in Doha four years ago – was confirmed at a Chefs De Mission meeting on Wednesday by Haider A. Farman, Manager of the OCA’s Asian Games Department. 4,750 team officials are also present in the Southern Chinese city.

At the officials meeting, Farman gave praise to the efforts of the organizing committee in deciding to broadcast more live sports events and increase the number of outside broadcast vans to expand the coverage. “Team sports such as football and volleyball will benefit greatly from this broadcasting move,” he said,

Today’s opening ceremony is expected to be spectacular showpiece according to Chen Weiya, the show director. Weiya stated that the organizing committee drew experience from the successful staging of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, however, he noted today’s extravaganza will be remarkable because of the role of water.

“The opening ceremony will start with a drop of water from the Pearl River,” he said. “There will be a 170-metre long fountain matrix, the longest one in the world. There will also be a huge area for performance, including a 3-metre deep area which has never been seen before.”

The director also highlighted the uniqueness of Haixinsha as the location for the pageant. The site which is shaped like a boat is said to represent the spirit of the Guangdong people. “The opening ceremony will go out of a stadium, with a pearl river as the stage and the whole city as the backdrop. It will be an ‘open opening ceremony,” he added.

Cambodia’s 38-man delegation will file out sixth of the 45 nations taking part in the traditional parade. 21-year-old men’s taekwondo star Chhoy Bouthorn will lead the team out by carrying the Kingdom’s flag. The opening ceremony is scheduled to commence at 8pm Cambodian time.

Atheletes get straight into training
After a warm welcome from officials of the Games organizing committee on arrival in Guangzhou on Tuesday evening, the Cambodian contingent were quickly accredited and checked into the Athletes Village, located right in the middle of the metropolis.

At 6am, the athletes were woken to hit the training fields and begin their acclimatisation to the cooler air in Guangzhou.

The volleyball team, comprising of Mon Rom, Nget Sothearith, Samath Vann Sak and Taing Mengheak, squared themselves up under the watchful eyes of coach Ky Mengham, while boxers Phal Sophat and Svay Ratha, went through drills with coach Ven Sophal.

Meanwhile, wrestler Chum Chivinn, who is still nursing a thigh injury sustained in training, did some light jogging around the Games Village. The SEA Games silver medalist has been entered for the 120kg wrestling and will have to shed off about 5 kilograms before his opening bout on November 21.

National Olympic Committee of Cambodia Secretary General Vath Chamroeun arrived at the Cambodian camp at about 3pm on Wednesday and held a briefing with the coaches and team officials on their preparations and readiness for their events. All coaches were then given updates on their various venues and events schedules.

Voices from the Cambodian camp
“I am quite lucky to be here in Guangzhou,” said boxer Phal Sophat after training on Wednesday evening. “I really enjoyed today’s training, and I am looking forward to the start of the competitions.” His sparing partner Svay Ratha said: “I hope to do well. I want to have a good start and I will try my best to perform well.” Both Boxers will enter the ring next Tuesday, and eagerly await the names of their opponents, with the draw to be held after the opening ceremony.

Tennis duo Bun Kenny and Orn Sambath play their first matches tomorrow in the team event at the AOTI tennis arena.

Bun Kenny, who scored his first ATP points recently, will be looking to improve his ranking with a good run at the Games.

“I don’t know if I can win a medal here. For sure I want to give my best, but improving on my ranking will be a huge success for me,” he said. The lads are not new to China, and will not be intimidated by the crowd and the field, featuring some of Asia’s best tennis players.

“I have been training hard, and we learnt a lot during our tournament in Shanghai, so we will not be afraid of any player,” said Orn Sambath echoed.

Bun Kenny and Orn Sambath start off with the team events before splitting to take part in the Singles, and then team up together again to play the doubles. However, they faced a tough task after being drawn yesterday against the Chinese Taipei team of Chei Ti and Lu Yen Shui.

Hem Thon Ponloeu and his niece Hem Thon Vitiny are also set to honour Cambodia’s legendary swimmer and grandfather, Hem Thon, as they hit the pool on Saturday morning. Both are competing in the 50m freestyle and breaststroke events.

“I feel happy to be here. I have been training for this for a long time and will do my best,” said Vitiny after a workout yesterday morning. “I don’t hold too much hope personally, but as an athlete, I hope I can get one medal. It doesn’t matter which one.”

Ponloeu said he meant business in Guangzhou. “This is an important competition, so we are taking it very seriously and want to prepare for our first round on very well,” he said.

Taekwondo coach Choi Yongsok is quite optimistic that his wards will go far in the Games, but hopes they will avoid his home country in the draw. The Korean-born coach, who accompanied the four-strong Cambodian taekwondo team in South Korea for six months training prior to the Games, would be happy to see his adopted country beat his homeland, but thinks the Korean’s experience will prove too much. The draw will be made on Monday.

“I have confidence on my athletes, we have trained hard in Korea for six months and I am sure they will do well in this Game,” said Choi.

“We haven’t started training since we arrived. We have been trying to locate our venue and to find out the scheduled time for our training. Hopefully we will resume after the opening ceremony.”

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Shuttle shifters



Thursday, 11 November 2010 15:00
Sreng Meng Srun

Krong Sokhang hits a return over the net during his group match in the five-day National Badminton Championships, which started yesterday at the National Sports Complex hall. The tournament features 163 male and 10 female players hailing from 12 clubs nationwide, and serves as a selection trial for national squad places, with the Cambodian team set to participate in a tournament in China later this year.

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Cambodia fail to lift off

The Cambodia delegation arrives on stage during the opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou on Friday. The Kingdom’s athletes failed to record any successes in their opening matches over the weekend.


Monday, 15 November 2010 15:00
Dan Riley

Cambodia suffered a disappointing start to their Asian Games campaign in Guangzhou, failing to capture any victories in all of their opening disciplines.

The tennis team of Bun Kenny and Orn Sambath were whitewashed 3-0 by Chinese Taipei in their men’s team event at the Aoti Tennis Centre on Saturday. In the first rubber singles match, Orn Sambath was outclassed by Chen Ti to go down 6-1, 6-0. Bun Kenny provided stiffer resistance against Yang Tshung Hua in the second rubber, succumbing 6-1, 6-4.

The Kingdom’s top pairing were simply no match for their opponents in the doubles rubber, losing 6-0, 6-0 to confirm their exit from the competition. They will now concentrate on preparations for the men’s singles and doubles events scheduled to start on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in the pool at the Aoti Aquatics Centre on Saturday, swimmer Hem Thon Vitiny finished dead last in her women’s 50m breaststroke heat despite bettering her personal best by 1.82 seconds. The Cambodian teenager came in 8.20 seconds behind Satomi Suzuki of Japan, who won the heat with a time of 32.12 seconds. Vitiny will compete in her remaining event, the women’s 50m freestyle, tomorrow.

Yesterday, Vitiny’s teammate and uncle Hem Thon Ponleu fared slightly better in his men’s 50m breaststroke heat, coming home second behind Ahmed Atari of Qatar and ahead of Byambasuren Erdenebileg of Mongolia. However, Ponleu’s time of 33.16 seconds had him placed 32nd out of 34 qualifiers, with the finals threshold set at 28.77 seconds. Ponleu will be back in action this morning in the men’s 50m freestyle.

Over at the Guangzhou Chess Institute, Cambodia’s two Chinese Chess players lost both of their opening rounds. Hopes of medals in the game also known as Xiangqi took a knock when local master Heng Chamnan fell to Vietnam rival Nguyen Than Bao and Lay Chhay was defeated by Lei Kam Fun of Macau in first round matches on Saturday. In the second round yesterday, Ma Chung Wei of Chinese Taipei beat Heng Chamnan, while Lay Chhay was dispatched by Hong Kong’s Chiu Yu Kuen.

The Cambodian duo face an uphill task now over the five remaining rounds played every day until Friday.

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Cambodia teams beached

Tuesday, 16 November 2010 15:00
H S Manjunath

Immaculate blocking was the key to the success for the Chinese pair of Gao Peng and Li Jian over Cambodia’s duo of Samath Vansak and Taing Mengheak in the men’s beach volleyball team event at the Guangzhou Asian Games yesterday.

The Chinese team, backed by a vociferous home crowd of around 1,000 spectators, came up with five blocks on the way to wrapping up a 21-15, 21-10 victory in just 32 minutes. Though the Cambodian combination attempted more attack, 44 to the hosts’ 37, their spiking came up with a poorly 14 hits compared to 25 successes by the Chinese men. The home pair were also slightly ahead on the dig and Li Jian’s consistently good serving proved vital. One positive statistic for the Cambodians was that Taing Menghheak recorded the fastest serve of the match at 84kmph.

Later yesterday, at the Beach Volleyball Centre, the Kingdom’s other team of Nget Sothearith and Mon Rom were shut out by Malaysian opponents Nordin Rafi Asruki and Khoo Chong Long. This Cambodian team fared slightly better in this game, compared to their compatriates, going down 21-16, 21-18 in 38 minutes.

Ponleu comes up short
The last vestiges of Cambodian interest in men’s swimming disappeared yesterday after 20-year-old Hem Thon Ponloeu checked in fourth in Heat 2 of the 50m freestyle, over a second slower than the heat winner.

The nephew of legendary swimmer Hem Thon finished 38th overall out of 43 swimmers with a time of 27.68 seconds, 4.48 secs off the finals qualification mark.

“I tried my best but I could not make it to the final,” said Ponleu after his heat yesterday, adding that he thought he had gained useful experience.

Swimming team coach Hem Lunphat was also enthusiastic about the future prospects of the Kingdom’s swimmers. “We are a young team, we hope to improve on this performance,” he said.

Cambodia have just one more chance left for success in the pool of the Aoti Aquatics Centre, with Hem Thon Vitiny competing in the women’s 50m freestyle heats this morning.

Chess players grab draws
Meanwhile at the Guangzhou Chess Institute yesterday, Cambodia’s pair of competitors in Chinese Chess finally got their campaigns off the ground when they both registered their first points of the men’s individual competition by completing draws.

Heng Chamnan ended his game all even against Kuok U Long of Macau, while Lay Chhay shared the spoils with Japan’s Kazuharu Shoshi.