The closing ceremony of the 2022 National Petanque Championship on October 16. CHHORN NORN
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport undersecretary of state Bou Chum Serey considered bowling and petanque as sports that could potentially make a significant contribution to the Kingdom’s medal prospects at the SEA Games.
He made the remarks at a meeting of the Cambodian SEA Games Organizing Committee (CAMSOC), noting that the sports could be key to achieving the government’s goal of winning more than 50 gold medals when Cambodia hosts the 32nd SEA Games in 2023.
Chum Serey said that among the 38 sports that the committee has officially decided to field competitors or teams in at the upcoming games, bowling and petanque have high potential to yield gold medals for the nation.
“[The ministry] considers petanque a potential gold medal winning sport for our motherland to achieve the goal of Cambodia ranking no lower than fifth among the 11 countries in ASEAN when Cambodia hosts the games,” he said.
Chum Serey recently spoke at the closing ceremony for the 2022 National Bowling and Petanque Championships at the National Stadium’s Bowling and Petanque Court on October 16. He added that it is estimated that Cambodia must win at least 50 gold medals in order to achieve this ranking goal.
However, he also acknowledged that achieving the goal will be difficult, but the ministry has expressed hope that the petanque team will be able to earn enough gold medals by knocking Singapore out of its current position in the rankings.
“This is really hard work for our sport, especially for petanque, because to target the fifth spot we have to beat Singapore, who currently ranks fifth with more than 50 gold medals. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Education has the hope and confidence that all of you will be able to contribute as many medals as you can with the other potential sports to achieve our country’s goals by 2023,”said Chum Serey.
Secretary of state at the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Sok Sakan is the recently elected president of the Cambodian Bowling and Petanque Federation who replaced Sar Sokha, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. He agreed in principle to what Chum Serey said.
Sakan stated that the sports of bowling and petanque have developed into one of the most promising and prominent sports in Cambodia, which has increased the resources available to athletes, who have found success at competitions and have a lot of achievements at both the national and international levels in past competitions.
“They have really contributed to raising our national prestige and promoting the potential of Cambodian bowling and petanque to the world,” he said.
Sakan said he considered the 2022 National Bowling and Petanque Championship as a means to promote good relations between the Kingdom and the 58 clubs from other nations affiliated with the federation.
The event is also a platform, he said, for looking for up and coming athletes with potential and older but dedicated athletes to put together a team to compete as the national team next year.
At the 2022 championships a total of 127 athletes participated and competed in five different sports related to bowling or petanque while representing 17 clubs and sports leagues across Cambodia on October 15-16.
The petanque team of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) took first place in their sport winning two gold medals and one silver medal.
The Ministry of Interior’s team came in second place with one gold medal, one silver medal and one bronze medal, while the Council of Ministers came in third place with one gold medal and three bronze medals.
