Youth volunteers during the 3rd National Games at Morodok Techo Stadium last year. PHOTO SUPPLIED
The leadership of the Cambodian SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC) said they consider the media and volunteers an important part of promoting the 32nd SEA Games and 12th ASEAN Para Games and making the biennial multi-sports event a success.
In a meeting to discuss the registration of local and international journalists at Morodok Techo National Stadium on February 6, Phos Sovann – head of the Ministry of Information’s General Department of Information and Broadcasting who also serves on CAMSOC’s information technology committee – said the registration of journalists and issuance of media credentials will begin from March.
CAMSOC secretary-general Vath Chamroeun said he considers the media to be a mirror to reflect the reality of what Cambodia is today and promote the country to the world.
He said people around the world are preparing to focus on Cambodia because it is hosting the 2023 SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games, which are the first major international sporting events in the history of the Kingdom.
“CAMSOC will strive to warmly encourage international journalists to promote positive coverage to the world. The coverage should be about the great achievements taking place at the Morodok Techo National Stadium under peace and development in Phnom Penh, as well as in the SEA Games provincial events in Siem Reap, Preah Sihanouk, Kep and Kampot, which are Cambodia’s special tourist destinations,” he said.
Chamroeun added that the live broadcasting of the games will be divided into two parts. The first part is the broadcasting of the 15 most popular sports, produced by a private international professional production team that will meet the highest international quality standards, before the rights to the re-broadcasting of events are provided to the local media for free.
The second part will focus on another 15 sports and the rights to the live broadcast will be offered to the local TV stations that have sufficient capacity to produce them.
“This meeting focuses on the technical aspects of the live broadcasting centre [IBC] and the media centre, how to organise it and what to do, but this meeting encourages all media to be responsible and they must specifically be highly effective in broadcasting high-quality coverage of professional sports,” he said.
Minister of Tourism Thong Khon, who is also permanent vice-president of CAMSOC, expressed his hope that Cambodia will have many volunteers register to help make the SEA Games successful.
At a press conference on the official recruitment of volunteers on February 1 – in the presence of Hun Many, president of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia (UYFC) – Khon said that CAMSOC needs about 7,000 volunteers to serve at the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games, where about 7,000 to 8,000 sports delegates will be participating.
“Volunteers are part of the DNA of these major sporting events, and in the past we have made arrangements to allocate the use of this volunteer committee to all sections, including the skilled committee.
“In the upcoming days, the expert committee will accept all volunteers to work with the committee and be assigned to all kinds of sports competitions and related professional work. I hope we will get enough volunteers for our SEA Games,” he added.
