Cambodia to send 3 athletes to Paris Olympics

PHNOM PENH, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Three athletes will represent Cambodia to compete in the Paris Olympic Games, a sports chief said on Wednesday.

Thong Khon, a senior minister and president of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, said the kingdom will dispatch a 15-member sports delegation, including three athletes, for the Games.

He said the trio include two swimmers - 17-year-old Cambodian-French swimmer Antoine le Lapparent and 23-year-old Cambodian-American Sakbun Apsara Katarina - and 31-year-old sprinter Bunthan Chhun, who won a SEA Games gold medal in 2023.

Khon said the Olympic Games has provided a great opportunity for Cambodian athletes to take on world-class competitors from various sporting disciplines.

"I would like to urge all athletes to compete in compliance with technical rules and the principle of fair play based on the Olympic values - excellence, respect and friendship," he said.

Khon added his hopes that the athletes would achieve good results, breaking their current records. The delegation will depart for the Games on July 21.

Cambodia first competed in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in Australia. To date, athletes from the Southeast Asian country have yet to earn an Olympic medal.