Phnom Penh (FN), Sept. 4 - Prime Minister Hun Sen said that Cambodians have had enough of insults from the rich countries; however, it is not obvious that those foreigners’ thinking are better than the thinking of Cambodian people, speaking at the repatriation ceremony of Cambodian delegates and athletes from the 18th Asian Games 2018 at the Peace Palace on Monday evening.
“We were born poor and were insulted by the rich, but their brains are not better than us […] I suffered enough from the insult of the rich,” said the premier.
“Today we won two gold and one bronze medals. We are not too proud. We want more medals,” the premier added.
Of the 13 games Cambodian participated, Cambodian-American female athlete Khan Jessa won one gold medal in Jujutsu game - a Japanese martial art using close combat for defeating an armed and armored opponent; and Saly Ou Moeut won another gold medal in Ski Modified game and one bronze in Jet Skiing Runabout 1100 Stock.
The Asian Games was first held in New Delhi, India in 1951 on the initiative of former Prime Minister of India Lahawal Nerouk. Cambodia joined the Second Asian Games in 1954 but failed to win the medals. Cambodia won the first bronze medal in the 4th Asian Games in 1962 in Jakarta, Indonesia by Cambodian boxer Yu Chin Hong. Later, Cambodia won two silver and two bronze medals in 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Due to civil war, Cambodia were absent in the Asian Games from 1974 to 1994, and officially re-entered the Games until now. Since then, Cambodia has made efforts to improve sport capacity in the pursuit of national pride in the cause of peace and the development of Cambodia.
The first gold medal was won by Sorn Seavmey in the 17th Asian Games held in South Korea in 2014 for a period of 60 years from 1954-2014.
The 2018 Asian Games, held from 18 August-2 September, was hosted by Indonesia for the second time since 1962 with around 10,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions competing in 40 sports, making the second-largest program in Asian Games history.
=FRESH NEWS
