Consequences of Cambodia's withdrawal from the SEA Games

Cambodia's withdrawal directly impacts the SEA Games 33 schedule. Photo: The Nation.

On the morning of December 10th, Cambodia decided to withdraw from all 12 registered sports, just one day after its sports delegation attended the opening ceremony at Rajamangala Stadium (Bangkok).

In an interview with The Nation , Chaipak Siriwat, Vice President of NOCT and Chairman of the SEA Games 33 Council, said that Cambodia's withdrawal of all athletes would have the most severe impact on some martial arts disciplines, as some events would not have enough participating athletes.

Some events in other sports will also have to adjust their format, potentially awarding only one gold and one silver medal instead of multiple sets of medals as originally planned.

This change aims to ensure the validity and fairness of the competitions following the sudden withdrawal of the Cambodian team.

In late November, the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) decided to withdraw from nine sports, including men's football. At that point, Cambodia was only participating in 12 sports.

The sports Cambodia has confirmed it will participate in include swimming, athletics, esports, fencing, gymnastics, ju-jitsu, kickboxing, taekwondo, equestrianism, jet skiing, triathlon, and teqball.

Despite this reduction, 137 members of the Cambodian sports delegation are still expected to travel to Thailand for the SEA Games. Thirty Cambodian athletes participated in the parade at the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games.

Ju-jitsu brings Vietnam's first medal: The pair Hong Ngoc and Ngoc Bich won the first bronze medal at the 33rd SEA Games for the Vietnamese sports delegation in the women's ju-jitsu performance event on the morning of December 10th.

Source: https://znews.vn/he-qua-khi-campuchia-rut-lui-khoi-sea-games-post1609979.html