For the fourth time, a team of Cambodian swimmers will be sent to the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), which holds its 11th edition in Istanbul from December 12 to 16.

The Kingdom have selected three of their elite athletes, including two-time Olympians Hem Thon Ponloeu and his niece Hem Thon Vitiny, and Russian-born youngster Maximov Chamraen Youri for the Turkey trip.

Ponloeu will compete in his favoured men’s 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke events, while Vitiny will enter the same races in the women’s draw. Youri is also down for the men’s 50m freestyle as well as the 50m butterfly.

“It is a mass competition; if we don’t participate, our chances of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil will be very small,” Khmer Amateur Swimming Federation secretary-general Hem Thon said of the biennial event, which is set to feature 200 participating nations.

“The results are not so important, because this event is a great preparation for the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chhorn Norn at [email protected]

Chris Derbuc at [email protected]