Cambodian karate exponents continued last year’s good work in Indonesia by taking home a silver and four bronze medals from the 7th Southeast Asia Karate Federation Championships.

The martial arts event concluded on Wednesday in the Vietnamese province of Bac Ninh, which lies east of the capital Hanoi.

Led by the energetic Ly Sou Ing, who won a silver and bronze in the freestyle kumite as the championship opened on Monday, the Kingdom’s two other female karatekas, Chhron Srey Phea and Chhay Keat Yuki, landed bronze medals the next day to add to the bronze from the only podium finisher in the men’s section, Chhor Virakboth.

“It is indeed encouraging to see our female competitors doing well at this level. The team as a whole has performed creditably to follow up on our performances at the previous event last May when we had a similar performance but with two silvers in the men’s category,” said National Olympic Committee of Cambodia secretary-general Vath Chamroeun, a former Olympic wrestler who practises karate as a hobby.

In last year’s sixth edition in Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia, Kak Seilapanha (Men’s -76 kumite) and Tep Steve Yuthana (Men’s -55) won silver medals, while a bronze went to Phun Kimsrieng in the women’s -50 alongside He Sophannaro (Men’s 76+) and Chhoeun Chhenglim (Men’s -84).