Cambodia will host the 13th Southeast Asian Bodybuilding Championship in Siem Reap from December 4 to 7 in conjunction with the 20th Angkor Wat International Half Marathon and with the UNESCO World Heritage Site as its backdrop.

“It is every sponsor’s dream to be involved in the Kingdom’s most glitzy and glamorous bodybuilding fete with the Angkor Wat temple complex providing an awe-inspiring setting,” Cambodian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation secretary-general Rasmey Sokmongkol told participants of the country’s first Judges Seminar and Examination at the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia’s headquarters yesterday.

“It is a mark of Cambodia’s stature in regional bodybuilding that the Asian Bodybuilding Federation should allot this prestigious event to the CBBFF,” he said.

“It certainly will serve as a practice run in this discipline when Cambodia embarks on the Kingdom’s biggest sporting spectacle, the 2023 SEA Games.”

As a spectacular sideshow, the CBBFF will organise a Mr Cambodia competition, with the top two place getters from each category in the event qualifying to represent the country at the SEA Games. Also on the cards is a similar event for females.

The first-of-its-kind judges seminar was part of the CBBFF’s efforts to create a reliable pool of quality judges for local events as well as regional and Asia-wide shows.

During his introductory remarks, Rasmey Sokmongkol, an ABBF-certified A Category judge, lauded the performances of five Cambodian bodybuilders in the 12th SEA Bodybuilding Championship which concluded in Singapore last week. As one of the members of the judges panel himself, the secretary was in a vantage position to assess the power of the Cambodian performances, which he described as marking a milestone.

For the first time, all the members of the Cambodian team figured in top five placings, with Tek Bunvy and Heng Buneang grabbing bronze medals, Cheng Kimsrun taking fourth and Sok Sopheak and Muth Masa each awarded fifth.

While the CBBFF will be holding a series of parleys with the Weightlifting Federation for an eventual merger, Rasmey Sokmongkol made it clear in a chat with the Post that no effort would be spared to make the December event a grand success and showcase the Kingdom’s organising abilities to the rest of the region and the continent.

Candidates attending the judges seminar took a written test with a mark of at least 80 out of 100 required to pass.