Kempo Increases Cambodia's medal haul in SEA games

Kempo Increases Cambodia's medal haul in SEA games

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Silver Girl, Sovan Rachana poses with her Silver medal won in Shorinjo Kempo.

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Cambodia's Medal haul increased after the end of Saturday's events thanks to Shorinjo Kempo which finished with 1 silver and six bronze medals.

The high point of the day for Cambodia came at the Caricas Sports hall in Jakarta as Sovan Rachana, fighting for women’s Randori (Free Sparring) 57kg - Female gold, lost a valiant battle against home favourite Ligar Nur Lailah of Indonesia.

On her climb up to the final, the Cambodian scored two crucial wins. she shut out Imaculada Caldas of Timor Leste in the quarterfinals and Bounmy Saysombat of Lao PDR in the semis to set up that final showdown with the Indonesian. There second meeting after losing to her in the round robin earlier in the series.

The Duo of Sovan Ratanak, And Branom Channary both fell in the Semi finals of the 45 and 48 kg women respectively while Phat Saren and Korn Savorn lost in the men's 50 and 55kg respectively. Un sovanara made a brave fight out of his semi final bout with Indonesian, Yules Umbuh Pulu as the game ended a draw and was exteded into Overtime. Sovannara silenced the cheering fans by scoring some good points which the judges failed to count to the chagrin of Coach Sovan, before Yules made a solitary point to knock the Cambodian out.

" I am really disappointed with the officiating, my players made several points and were not given yet the opponents kick at the wrong place and were given the point, this is unfair" Coach Sovan retorted

In the end Sovan Rachana and Kong Savorn won bronze for mixed Artistic pair then in singles Sovan Ratanak, Bramom Channary, phat Saren Kong Savorn and Un Sovanara all settled for Bronze in their respective category.

The hope of the Kingdom for additional gold in Kempo now lie on Sovan Kiry who is due to face his counterpart from Laos on Sunday for a shot at gold in the finals of the 75kg Single men.

The Kingdom will also be looking to add to its gold tally when Veng Vireak the only remaining Wushu Athletes takes on his counterpart from Laos in the Semi finals at the Senayan Sports Complex on Sunday after compatriot Choy Thla suffered a 10 seconds knockout against his opponent from Philippines on Saturday at the same venue.

Earlier in the day, the Traditional boat race team lost out in two races as they found Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia too hot to handle. The team will continue their search for a podium finish on Sunday in the 1000+1+1 category and the 500+1+1 category.