Phnom Penh: Cambodia’s Olympic team has arrived in Japan for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. They flew out of Phnom Penh International Airport on Tuesday morning. The kingdom’s hopes of what would be its first Olympic medals, rest on the shoulders of just three athletes: swimmers 22-year-old Hem Puch and 17-year-old Khoeun Bunpich Morakad and 28-year-old runner Pen Sokong. They will carry the Cambodian flag into the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo during Friday night’s Opening Ceremony.
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. The three are accompanied by the Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee, Mr. Vath Chamroeun, as well as their coaches.
Mr. Chamroeun says before leaving, the Cambodian delegation received words of encouragement on Monday from the President of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, Dr. Thong Khon. Director General of Sports in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Mr. Ouk Sithicheat, also praised the team for their preparations. He says while Cambodia has never won an Olympic medal, it is not winning which matters, but rather, taking part.
“The Olympics make the world friendly, united and peaceful and in line with these principles, Cambodia has a slogan for the 2023 SEA Games/ASEAN Para Games: ‘Sports for Peace’. So to go to the Olympics is to go for peace, to encourage the hosts to fulfill the obligations of the Olympic movement. What we want in return is the national dignity that our Cambodian athletes strive to compete with national pride, competing with respect for the principles of justice, good ethics, non-violation of competition rules and zero substance abuse. Overall, we are all very happy that the head of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen, has always paid attention to the development of all kinds of sports and sports supporters, which is very encouraging” for the national Olympic team.