The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia’s two-day Sea Festival, which had been scheduled to be held in Kep next month but postponed as a mark of respect to the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, has now been moved to the end of December 2013.

“We will work out the organisational details and fresh dates soon for the second Sea Festival. All other international events will go ahead as announced,” NOCC Secretary-General Vath Chamroeun told the Post yesterday.

The festival had planned to host both an open water swimming and a triathlon event.

“The festival framework has a provision for holding the event either annually or every two years,” added the secretary-general, before his departure from Phnom Penh to attend today’s 31st Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly in Macau.

There is a significant Southeast Asian focus at the convention this year, with Vietnam and Indonesia strongly pushing their bids alongside the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan to host the 2019 Asian Games.

“From the Cambodian standpoint, we will start lobbying for help from the Olympic Council of Asia member nations at various levels for our own preparations to organise the SEA Games anytime after 2020,” said Chamroeun.

“Another important issue for us is to discuss with the organisers is Cambodia’s participation in the 4th Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games in Incheon, South Korea, next year.”

Incheon will also host the 2014 Asian Games.

Meanwhile in Vietnam, Wei Jizhong, Honorary Life Vice President of the OCA, examined some stadiums in Hanoi yesterday, including the My Dinh National Sporting Complex, after working with the city’s People’s Committee regarding the plan to bid for the 2019 Asia Games.

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