November 2, 2022
PHNOM PENH – President of the Cambodian Badminton Federation Ly Kosal said the national badminton team is on track to claim gold medals at next year’s 32nd SEA Games, to be held in the Kingdom for the first time.
Kosal expressed high hopes for the national women’s team, who are undergoing training in China thanks to the auspices of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC). The plans were delayed two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Although their time in training was cut short, I believe that they have progressed well. The preparations they are making in China are increasing their abilities exponentially. In two or three months, I will travel to their training camp to motivate them further, so they will be ready to claim gold for the Kingdom,” he said.
Ly Kosal made his comments at the October 31 closing ceremony of the 2022 National Badminton Championship at the National Stadium. As a result of the six national events, he assessed that the participation of member clubs was excellent and the abilities of the Kingdom’s players has improved significantly.
The federation also contacted their South Korean counterparts and invited world-class coach Choi Seoung Kook to train the national team members who are training locally.
Seoung Kook has been training the team for a week already, and will continue to train them up until the games. It is hoped that he will give the players the confidence they need to compete at the highest level.
“Our commitment is to bring home gold medals. To accomplish this goal, we have set our strategies and tactics carefully. We are not just focussing on the competition, but on what technical work we will need to complete to support our medal ambitions,” said Kosal.
He added that final election of the team was effectively locked in – especially the 12 athletes who were training in China. Barring exceptional circumstances, the members of the squad had been named, and now all knew what they had to do ahead of the games.
“The players that have been selected by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport will not be replaced. They all know exactly what we expect from them, and we trust that they will train as hard as they can, in order to take victory,” he added.
The federation also ran a five-day training session for referees and internal judges, in preparation for the games. The workshop was led by Malaysian trainer Yau Lin Na from the Asian Badminton Federation. 48 trainees were in attendance.
Kosal regarded the training as crucial, saying that Cambodia had planned the workshop so that it would not have to depend on international staff, as hiring them is costly.
“Normally, we would need many international referees and judges to help us with an international competition like this one, which 11 countries will attend. As we are hosting, we sought to strengthen the human resources we can call upon. We will only need one or two international specialists to supervise our preparations,” he added.