Phnom Penh: The Olympic Games gets underway next Friday and the Cambodian team is off to Tokyo. There is great enthusiasm around the world to celebrate the Games, after they were postponed last year, but with Covid-19 still raging, there’ll be no spectators to cheer our athletes on. Cambodia’s medal hopes rest on the shoulders of two young swimmers and one talented runner.

Cambodia's three elite athletes will take part in the opening ceremony next Friday and are due to fly out to Tokyo early next week. Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee, Mr. Vath Chamroeun, says the trio are swimmers – 22-year-old Hem Puch, 17-year-old Khoeun Bunpich Morakad and 28-year-old runner Pen Sokong.

The two swimmers will compete in the 50-metre freestyle. Sokong will compete in the 100m sprint. Sokong holds a personal best of 10.87 seconds and says this will be his first Olympics and he’s hoping to set a new record for himself.

In Japan, the International Olympic Committee’s president Thomas Bach has called Tokyo the "best ever prepared city" to host the Olympics, but there have already been financial drawbacks. The year’s delay has cost Japan billions of dollars. The decision to hold the games behind closed doors is also leaving Tokyo taxpayers on the hook to refund up to $800m in ticket sales.