Cambodia will join the region’s powerhouse nations in the fight for boxing gold medals when it hosts the 2023 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the capital of Phnom Penh.
While SEA Games boxing has always been the woman of Thailand the Philippines — and sometimes Indonesia — Cambodia is throwing its hat into the ring.
The Cambodia Boxing Federation, according to a report on the Phnom Penh Post, that the season Kazakh strategist Kassymkhanov Berikbol Amantayevich has been tapped to handle the national team.
“Our hopes are high, as the new coach has a lot of experience in training boxers to international standards. We also have many overseas competitions and training caps planned before the games, we think our team will be extremely well prepared,” Cambodia boxing secretary-general Buy Sophoan said.
As part of the new coach’s plans, the Cambodian punchers will also camp out in Uzbekistan and also spend time in Europe.
Likewise, the federation is also on the lookout for boxers of Cambodian lineage to represent in the 32nd SEA Games provided that they do not fight on the same weight class as the home-grown talents.
The Kazakh mentor used to train the fighters of Vietnam and Myanmar.
Now that it has acquired expert advice, the host nation is eyeing to win two gold medals next year.
In the Hanoi SEA Games lat May, Cambodia just brought home one silver and three bronze medals.