SEA Games in Thailand, Khmer Swimming Federation still hopes to win medals despite no Fin-Swimming

The Khmer Swimming Federation has turned its hopes to swimming and diving to win medals at the 33rd SEA Games 2025 in Thailand, while Fin-Swimming, which Cambodian athletes won 2 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals at the SEA Games 2023, which Cambodia hosted, are now not included in the competition.

Secretary-General of the Khmer Swimming Federation, Mr. Hem Kiri, said that, he has not yet received the specific information from the Thai Fin-Swimming Federation about not including Fin-Swimming in the SEA Games 2025, but according to what he received from the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, the selection of sports for the SEA Games 2025 has been officially completed since November.

Mr. Hem Kiri expressed his deep regret that the Fin-Swimming event was not included in the SEA Games 2025, causing the Khmer Fin-Swimming team to lose the opportunity to compete for gold medals for the Nation again, while their current team is more capable than when they were preparing for the SEA Games 2023. “When we lose the fin-swimming event, our potential to win medals in the SEA Games 2025 is really difficult because our fin-swimming team is developing to a high level”.

However, he expressed hope that the swimming and diving teams will still be able to achieve good results for the nation, although these two Cambodian sports have never won medals at the SEA Games before.

Mr. Hem Kiri confirmed that: “If we have fin-swimming in the SEA Games, we have hope of winning a gold medal. However, I still have hope for swimming, and we are also thinking about diving.”

For this hope, Mr. Hem Kiri focused heavily on mixed athletes who are training abroad, especially a Khmer-French male athlete, Dela Parron Antoine, who reached the finals of the 50-meter and 100-meter backstroke events at the SEA Games 2023. But for a Khmer-American female athlete, Lu-Si Minnich has also become a hope to achieve the good results for Cambodia in diving.

 He emphasized that: “For diving, we have an athlete Lu-Si Minnich who is training regularly at a university in the United States, and if she is at a high level, we will bring her to compete to represent Cambodia again because she has competed in the SEA Games 2023. As for swimming, we have placed our hopes on some athletes, especially Dela Parron Antoine, as I have expected her to do well to be able to win a medal for the motherland”.

ដកស្រង់ពី ភ្នំពេញប៉ុស្តិ៍