Cambodia is expected to send a 333 strong delegation to the SEA Games in Thailand next month.
The number is almost half of what was originally planned and would seriously affect any hopes of repeating the success of the Kingdom’s athletes two years ago at home.
The latest number was also lower than what was confirmed by the organising committee just a couple of days ago.
The technical director of the organising committee, Akkarin Hiranyapruek, had confirmed on Monday that Cambodia would send a full team of 432, including 232 athletes.
Over last few days ago both snooker and billiards as well as muay had confirmed their withdrawal from the Games citing athlete safety as well as national dignity.
Whether other sports will follow suit remains to be seen with the Games scheduled from 3-20 December.
At the 2023 Games, Cambodia finished fourth overall with 81 gold medals, 74 silver medals and 127 bronze medals.
The National Olympic Council of Cambodia (NOCC) has confirmed that the Kingdom will participate in 21 sports namely athletics, swimming, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, judo, taekwondo, volleyball, football, wrestling, pencaksilat, kickboxing, petanque, sepaktakraw and chinlone, triathlon, jet ski, karate, jiu-jitsu, wushu, table football, and e-sports.
The Thai government has pledged full security and fair treatment for Cambodian athletes at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, despite border tensions between the two countries.
Thailand Tourism and Sports Minister Atthakorn Sirilatthayakorn in an interview with the Thai media had said that Thailand would fulfil its role to provide security to all the athletes.
He also denied that Cambodia had asked for any specific protection during the competition. He said that all security details had been agreed with the police and the Sports Authority of Thailand.
However, he had also warned that that athletes must not display symbols or banners related to the Thai-Cambodian border dispute, as political issues should not be mixed with sports.
While the NOCC believes that there would be no untoward incidents with the participation of Cambodian athletes in Thailand, social media has been divided on the issue.
Sports enthusiasts from both countries have also questioned the rationale of Cambodia’s participation at the Games.
It ranged from concerns over the safety of the athletes to upholding national dignity.
For the record, Cambodian participated at the Asia Oceania Wheelchair Basketball championships in Bangkok earlier this month without any untoward incident.
