National Qualifying Rounds Karate-Do for the SEA Games in Laos

BY BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA

A total of 101 Karate-do fighters, including 13 female fighters, from cities and provinces across the country will participate in the five day nationwide Karate-do competition from the 12th to the 16th August 2009 at the National Stadium in Phnom Penh. In November the definitive qualifications will be held at Open Cup.

The competition is organized by the Cambodian Karate-do Federation (CKF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport to select the fighters who will be entering the 25th SEA Games, to be held in Vientiane, Laos at the end of this year.
Besides this, the competition also promotes the karate-do sport as well as general health, according to Master Lach Chan Sovan, black belt 6th Dan, President of the Cambodian Karate-do Federation and also President of the Wado-Ryu Karate Academy in Phnom Penh.

The competition has been divided in a male and a female group, both groups competing in show and fighting rounds. In the male competition there are a total of 15 categories ranging from 30 kg up to 80 kg. The female competition is divided in four weight categories, a 48 kg, 58 kg and 60 kg and an open weight category.

Phuong Sovanvoleak, 15, is one of the female fighters competing in the competition. She is a fighter from the Wado-Ryu Karate Academy in Phnom Penh.

“I am happy as it is the first time for me to attend the nationwide Karate-do competition in Phnom Penh. I hope that with my hard training and strong patience, I will win a golden medal for my club,” she told The Southeast Asia Weekly. She further stated that of the past four matches, she won three.

There are a total of 56 gold, silver and bronze medals, to be won by the Karate-do fighters in this year. For the winner of the gold medal in the fighting class there is a reward of 300,000 Riel, for the silver medalist there is a 200,000 Riel award and the bronze winner will go home with 160,000 Riel. For the gold, silver and bronze medalist in the show class there will be rewards of respectably 105,000 Riel, 80,000 Riel and 60,000 Riel. The medals and prizes will be provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

Chan Sovan, stated that since the establishment of the CKF in 1994, about 170,000 Cambodians have been trained in Karate-do in Cambodia. Among these over 300 Cambodian´s gained black belts and some of them became karate-do coaches working in cities and provinces across the nation.

Sorn Srey, 21, is one of these Karate-do fighters, has been attending Karate-do competitions for three years, up till now he has not received any medals. He said that he has been training Karate-do with Master Dai Vireak in Kandal province since 2007.

“This is the fourth time for me to attend the competition in Phnom Penh. Although I have not been received any medals so far, I believe that I must try hard and do my best in the competition so that I win at least one medal,” he said.

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