A two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia and Beeline Arena, the Kingdom’s first and only privately owned multipurpose indoor stadium, will be formalised tomorrow, opening up to local athletes a top-end facility for training and competition.

This unique, renewable partnership allows the prime sports body in the country and member federations the use at a nominal cost of a 2,000-seat capacity arena conforming to international standards.

After the signing of the document at the arena, situated on the Chhroy Changvar peninsula past the Japan Friendship bridge, the Cambodian Mixed Martial Arts Association, formed late last year, will be officially launched.

With the indoor hall of Olympic Stadium currently going through extensive renovation, the need had never been greater or more urgent to have a well-equipped training centre like the Beeline Arena ahead of the year end’s SEA Games in Myanmar and next year’s Asian Games in South Korea.

“This is a special alliance born out of a common purpose and that is to give Cambodian athletes the best possible shot to train and excel. We are proud to be associated with the NOCC,” Charles Julliard, events and marketing manager of Banzai, the local company which owns the arena, told the Post yesterday.

“Our aim is to create a home federations can call their own and use our excellent facilities for their indoor disciplines and help raise the profile of Cambodian sports, domestically and internationally.”

NOCC Secretary-General Vath Chamroeun said: “We will encourage our Federations to make the best use of the arena and I am particularly happy that our long-felt need for quality training facility has now been met.

“I am confident this partnership will be mutually beneficial and will create exciting new avenues for us to achieve better results in indoor games.”

The arena, which measures up to international requirements including a FIFA-approved futsal pitch, has some exciting events lined up this year including the Ultimate Khmer Championship, which is to be a television spectacle involving international mixed martial arts stars.

To contact the reporter on this story: H S Manjunath at [email protected]