The Cambodian petanque squad returned home on Monday from Hanoi after competing at the 16th Asian Petanque Championship, which was held in Hanoi from December 12 through the16.

While the male contingent failed to reach the podium in any of their events, the female section was spearheaded by Ke Leng, who claimed her third successive gold medal in women’s shooting. Ke Leng shot down Vietnamese opponents in both the semi-final and final with scores of 42-28 and 23-22 respectively.

“It was very difficult to win the gold medal for shooting here, because the competition is very tough, with 13 countries entering the championship,” she told the Post by phone from Hanoi. “[The event] started at 7am and ... finished at 1:30am the next day.

To play the final was very hard.” The Kingdom also tasted success in women’s triples, with Ke Leng, Ouk Sreymom, Um Chantrea and Un Sreyya winning the silver medal. They were soundly beaten 13-1 by Thailand in the final.