Mr. Sophoan Buy – “Our main future goal is the 2023 Southeast Asian Games which will be held in Cambodia”

Cambodia has sent three boxers to the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships at the very first time in the history of the event. Their bantamweight (56kg) talent Non Bang started his participation with a success in Bangkok.
We asked their General Secretary Mr. Sophoan Buy about Cambodia’s preparation, main issues and the future programs of the country which is fully focusing to the 2023 Southeast Asian Games which will be held in Phnom Penh at the very first time.
“Our three participating boxers trained hard for the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships and I believe they are doing their best. We don’t expect too high as it is their first competition but we think they will be able to get experiences to be better in the near future.
They have been set a clear training schedule and timeline order to be well-prepared to their first ever international competition. They are so passionate with their training and very excited to join such a big event as the ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships.
I think the level of this ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships is too high for my boxers as they have got very little experiences out of Cambodia. Many of the participating countries can compete more international events every year.
Our main future goal is the 2023 Southeast Asian Games which will be held in Cambodia at the very first time. We are planning to seek as many medals as possible in the boxing tournament of the 2023 Southeast Asian Games.
We have got still low number of boxers in the country and trying to develop also our women boxing as well. Our next national event the National Games is coming soon it will be held from May 25 until June 5 in Phnom Penh.
The development of Cambodia’s boxing has been progressive in the recent one year, however we still needs further improvements in term of most fields. The infrastructure in the regional and provincial level needs to be developed. We don’t have permanent office staff yet, and our further issues are the insufficient media coverage, the unqualified national coaches, not enough found from the government and the lack of public recognition within Cambodia.
Cambodian boxers will be there in the Thailand Open Boxing Tournament in the end of June. If we can get approval from the Cambodian National Olympic Committee we want to send two boxers to the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games,” said the General Secretary of the Cambodian Boxing Federation Mr. Sophoan Buy.