Cambodian petanque heroine Ouk Sreymom has set another historic record by winning gold in the precision shooting event. She defeated home player Rebeka Howe in the final round of the World Games 2022, currently running in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

110 countries around the world have been competing in 34 sports at the games, with events scheduled from July 7 to 17.

In the shooting competition, which selected only the world’s top eight athletes, Sreymom took the long way round to the podium. In the first match, she scored 31 points to finish fourth, meaning she missed out on an automatic place in the semi-finals. Alongside her American rival Howe – and other athletes from France, Canada, Belgium and Germany – she had to battle her way back into medal contention.

Thailand’s Phantipha Wongchuvej took first place in the first round with 47 points, with Denmark’s Katrine Junge in second with 32. This made them the first two players to advance to the semi-finals.

In the second round matchup between the remaining six athletes, however, Cambodian veteran Sreymom secured 46 points. Her total of 77 points across both rounds launched her into first place contender. Howe, her US rival, found just 31 points in the second round, but her 63 point total was enough to enter the semi-final round.

Both Howe and Sreymom defeated their opponents in the sudden death semi-final matches. Sreymom defeated Denmark’s Katrine Junge 37-23, while Howe knocked out Thailand's Phantipha 38-37.

The much anticipated final match took place at 5am (Cambodian time) on July 13.

Sreymom was able to maintain her momentum and comprehensively outplayed the host athlete. Howe went down 41-21, settling for silver as Cambodia’s golden girl celebrated. Thai Phantipha beat her Danish opponent 34-20 to claim bronze.

This was the first time the Boules and Petanque Federation of Cambodia had been invited to participate in the World Games, but the crushing victory showed the world that Cambodian petanque players are the team to beat in the world games. There will be few who look forward to facing the players from the Kingdom.

Sreymom is just 41 years old, and likely to compete at future games.

The victory from Sreymom was lauded by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who offered his congratulations.

“Congratulations to Ouk Sreymom for beating her host country opponent to win gold at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, USA,” he wrote on social media.

Sar Sokha, president of the petanque federation, considered Sreymom’s gold a historic breakthrough.

Sokha, also secretary of state for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, took to social media to share his thoughts.

“Congratulations to Cambodian petanque player Ouk Sreymom on winning a gold medal at the World Games in the United States. This is historical record for Cambodia in a world-class event,” he wrote.

It’s not the first time Sreymom has stood atop the podium. At the 2017 World Championships in Belgium, she took gold in the women’s single event. She also claimed bronzes in other events at the 2013, 2017 and 2019 events.

At the World Petanque Championships in Spain – held in November last year – Sreymom took gold in the shooting event. The win meant that Cambodia had taken gold in that category an unprecedented five times. Ke Leng, who retired in 2020, won the event four times in a row before Sreymom added another.

Women’s national petanque team coach Sok Mong said the rules of the shooting competition have changed a lot and that Sreymom had trained hard and improved a lot after her disappointing bronze at May’s SEA Games, held in Vietnam.

He is confident that Sreymom will be able to add to her medal tally when she partners with Un Sreya in the upcoming women’s doubles event. The pair is in the red group, and will compete with France, Denmark and Canada. The White Group features Germany, Belgium, the United States and Thailand.

“Winning gold shows how much Sreymom has improved herself. We has been working on eliminating any weaknesses from her game. I believe that Ouk Sreymom and Un Sreya are in contention for a medal because we know we can match the level of play of the former gold medal winners here,” Mong told The Post.