Bangkok, Thailand, June 12, 2019 – The Cambodian men’s team is hitting big strides by competing in their first ever ParaVolley Asia Oceania Sitting Volleyball Championship in Bangkok.
“This is the first time Cambodia has joined this competition and I am happy that we are abale to compete against good teams,” team manager Poeng Sareth said. “This is a great opportunity for Cambodia to improve our world ranking and likewise our level of play.”
The Southeast Asian nation has played five matches so far and it took them three losses before they recorded their first win in the Championship. Their last two performances had been quite inspiring as they stood their ground against more experienced teams.
The Cambodians delivered a stunner as they powered their way to a 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 16-25, 25-20) win against the Japanese, then presented an unfazed stand against Korea in their thrilling straight-set (25-22, 25-20, 29-27) defeat – this latest encounter was a testament that they have the wares to face great teams at the international level.
“I am happy with the performance of my team,” Sareth said. “I’ve seen my team improve from the time we first played. My best player is Saing Veasna because he could really play at a high level. He has great potential because of his quickness.”
Cambodia’s sitting volleyball programme has been in place for quite some time but the most recent surge in support by their government has immensely helped them in achieving their dreams.
“We formed our sitting volleyball team a long time ago but we never had the opportunity to compete at this level. We hope we can join another one in the future.
“I would like to thank the NPC of Cambodia for providing support to the team and for allowing us to compete in this tournament. Our government, especially our prime minister, has also given a lot by supporting different programmes for the disabled in Cambodia.”
Things look positive indeed for the Cambodian team but the coaches and players hope that the discipline would thrive more domestically.
“In Cambodia, people love volleyball but very few know about sitting volleyball. I hope that this team would be able to inspire people back home to be informed about sitting volleyball and be more accepting to people disability. It’s a difficult task but we will all work hard for it.”