Cambodia’s premier female wrestler, Chov Sotheara, flies out of the capital today ahead of her participation at the London Olympics Asian qualifiers in Astana, Kazakhstan.

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The 27-year-old, who won gold at the 25th SEA Games in Laos, will be accompanied by her coach, Thin Vichet, and assistant coach Paek Su Nam, of South Korea, for the tournament, which runs from Friday to Sunday.

“I have much more confidence for the competition because I have trained very hard recently. I’m especially confident in the 48kg class, which is my preferred category,”  Chov Sotheara said.

The grappler failed to make the podium at last year’s SEA Games in Indonesia, which she put down to the absence of the 48kg weight class, which forced her to step up to 52kg.

“I found it so difficult,” Chov Sotheara said.

National Olympic Committee of Cambodia general secretary Vath Chamroeun confirmed that 45 Asian nations would be competing in Astana.

With only two Olympic berths up for grabs in her event, Sotheara has her work cut out, but Vath Chamroeun said he would seek a wild-card berth for the wrestler should she fail to make the cut.

Chov Sotheara will return home on April 4.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yeun Ponlok at [email protected]

Translated by In Sopheang