Cambodia will send five disabled athletes to participate in the Asean Para Sport Federation games in Kuala Lumpur, said Yi Veesna, executive director of the National Center for Disabled Persons.
The event comes six months after the Cambodian Paralympic team won six medals in the first-ever Asean Para Games, also held in Malaysia. This year’s games will take place April 27 to May 6.
The Cambodian athletes include: Chim Phan, 34, An Sok Eng, 28, Kim Vanna, 34, Sak Oung, 37 and Eoung Chek, 27. Events will include 100-, 200-, 400-and 800-meter runs. All 10 Asean countries are expected to send athletes.
Sak Oung, who lost the lower part of his right leg when he stepped on a land mine in 1986, won a gold medal in the 400-meter race last November. He hopes to win again, but said that he “cannot run very fast because my artificial leg is very heavy.”
Australian telecommunications firm Telstra BigPond sponsored the Cambodian team and the delegation. The company also supported the team’s previous visit to Malaysia.
A Cambodian delegation, will accompany the athletes to discuss participation in the Southeast Asian games in Vietnam in 2003.
