Cambodia remove multiple familiar sports from SEA Games 32

Cambodia held the 32nd SEA Games conference in its capital Phnom Penh from July 11 to 13. At the conference, the host country proposed 40 sports for SEA Games 32. Of these, 15 sports at SEA Games 31 in Vietnam were crossed out of the list, including many Olympic sports like shooting, archery and rowing.

The host explained that they removed these sports because they didn’t have the athletes as well as facilities to meet organizational requirements. According to Deputy Director of the General Department of Physical Education and Sports Tran Duc Phan, these are the sports that Vietnam are strong at, so this will greatly affect the number of gold medals the country could earn.

In addition to the basic sports like football, athletics, swimming, badminton, taekwondo... Cambodia also included a number of new and strange sports, like Kun Khmer martial art, teqball (table tennis but with a soccer ball).

The list of sports for the 32nd SEA Games may still be subject to change. In the coming time, other countries will continue to negotiate with host Cambodia to include several more sports into the event.

Vietnam topped the 31st SEA Games they hosted in May with 205 gold medals, 113 more than second runner-up Thailand. However, Phan said that Vietnam’s goal at the 32nd SEA Games is only to reach the top three.

SEA Games 32 is scheduled to take place from May 5 to 17, 2023 at five locations - capital Phnom Penh and the provinces of Siem Reap, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, and Kep.