Hem Kiry, secretary-general of the Khmer Swimming Federation, has announced the success of the “Hem Thon Age Group Swimming and Finswimming Championship”. He explained that the competition – now in its seventh year – has become an important part of developing youth athletes, especially as the federation prepares to select the national team for the 2029 Asian Youth Games, which Cambodia will host.

He noted that this year’s March 15 racing saw 228 people (108 boys, 82 girls, and 38 coaches), from 35 institutions take part, a twofold increase compared to the previous year's competition, which had fewer than 100 participants.

“The key focus of technical work for children, from the age of 7 and upwards, is to lay the foundation that allows them to start understanding the rules of competition and gain experience, aiming to progress to higher levels,” he said.

“However, we still have a younger age range and will strive to include even younger athletes, with more events, but the challenge is that we need more support and additional funding,” he added.

This year’s tournament received the support of Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, who serves as president of the federation.

Hem Kiry, secretary-general of the Khmer Swimming Federation, presents medals to some of the winners at this year’s competition. Swimming federation

Kiry acknowledged that there are budgetary limitations preventing the competition from reaching even higher levels.

He hoped that more private companies will show interest and contribute sponsorship packages, as the federation aims to use the event as a key resource in developing human resources for the 2029 games.

“We want to use this event to evaluate young athletes, Since swimming is an Olympic sport, it is crucial that we start pushing towards 2029, which is not too far off,” he said.

Chanthol urged federation officials to increase the number of youth competitions.

“The federation has used this event to assess the technical skills of athletes who won medals, preparing them to continue their training and become part of the national team. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the National Sports Training Center have also directed the federation to focus on finding young athletes to form the national team,” said Kiry.

“This competition is a great opportunity to identify talent. Some of the athletes may look foreign, but in reality, they have Cambodian blood — father from a foreign country, mother Cambodian — so we can select them to represent the Kingdom. We want to focus on this approach because we see strong support from their families, which is a good point in preparing for 2029,” he added.