It was a baptism of fire for Cambodia’s Team Yeak-or at the 2017 edition of the Asia-Oceanic Ultimate Club Championships, whose mixed division was won by Team Mulatto from host nation the Philippines.

Debuting Yeak-or finished 24th out of the 28 teams, but this was no reason for disappointment for co-coach Alli Bukys. “Most of the other countries attending this tournament have been playing ultimate a lot longer than Cambodia,” she said.

“Japan, in particular, is probably one of the top three countries in the world for ultimate [alongside the US and Canada]. I hope the [Cambodian] players saw elite play and have new goals to work harder and push themselves as players and as teammates to continue the growth of Cambodian ultimate.”

The captain of Yeak-or’s final opponents, Indonesia’s Team Garuda, after the match praised the disc movement of Yeak-or in attacks and the speed of their game.

Cambodian player Heng Soparuth was also pleased with his team’s offensive capabilities: “One of goals was to score and we scored in all our games,” he said, adding that he was hoping to keep the momentum going.

“I hope Yeak-or will keep training as hard in the future,” he said. “And it will also be good for other [Cambodian teams and players] as we will pass on what we learned [in Manila].”