But they complain about it, saying they've been doing it this way for years and it's easier without clothes. I usually just have to let them go.

Cambodia checked out of the AFF U16 Championships on Wednesday after a 2-1 loss to hosts Myanmar at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium in Naypyidaw, while Vietnam confirmed their progression along with Group A toppers Australia to tomorrow's semi-finals thanks to an 11-0 drubbing of Brunei.

The Kingdom's boys, lead by Swiss coach Sam Schweingruber, got off to a poor start, gifting Myanmar's Sa Aung Pyea the opening goal early on.

It wasn't until the 82nd minute that Cambodia were breached again with Suon Noeut turning the ball into his own net. Myanmar were then reduced to 10 men as Ye Min Thu was sent off for a professional foul, and Ouk Sovann converted a free kick at the death as consolation.

The hosts finished third in the group on six points, as Cambodia settled in fourth thanks to a sole victory over whipping boys Brunei, who conceded an astounding 43 goals without answer from four games.

The grand final and third-place playoff is slated for Monday.

The Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Association has grown to 150 members since it started last year. As the only representative of women in the private sector, the CWEA connects and trains women in business, a field still dominated by men. Seng Takakneary, president of the association, sat down with the Post's Laura Ma to discuss women's presence in Cambodian business.

Why did you start the CWEA?
Women in private sectors, especially micro, small and medium enterprises, still have a hard time in the business world. We are the platform for women to voice issues and concerns to. We then compile those issues to bring them to the government.

We didn't have this kind of representation before. Women had not a single voice at the government level, except for the Ministry of Women's Affairs. But there was no private sector representative.

How do you go about assisting these entrepreneurs?
There are many issues in running SMEs. They need support from the government, technical assistance, infrastructure. We bring in professionals to deliver courses on the logistics of starting a business. The CWEA plays a very important role by facilitating all kinds of business requirements and capacity building.

The CWEA also meets with delegations to present opportunities for other countries to support Cambodian women entrepreneurs. Last year, I was honoured to receive Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, to share our concerns and to look for ways to strengthen women empowerment with female entrepreneur leaders.

Why do women have a harder time as entrepreneurs?
Due to cultural aspects. Women have a lot of responsibilities, work and family combined, but less income. Because of this, they have less time to learn and network. Especially for women without higher education, it's important for the CWEA to give them access to business information and knowledge. We invite successful women business owners to share their experiences at workshops so other members can learn.

What is the difference in the difficulties male and female entrepreneurs face?
It is harder for women because we are perceived as less capable in business. We don't want to fight with men, just prove we can also lead and own businesses. Society hasn't reached that level of acceptance yet. Also, government officials are used to dealing with businessmen. Men have an easier time in resolving issues they bring to officials. Men still have an advantage opening businesses.

What presence do women have in business?
As of 2011, 65 per cent of Cambodia's SMEs were owned by women. The single largest industry that over 30 per cent of CWEA members are in is the food and beverage industry. For large businesses, I think only one or two per cent are run by women. Women are reaching middle management levels, but they are not yet at the top level.

How does CWEA influence the aspirations of young women?
We have activities and public speaking events that they can attend. We show them how women can be entrepreneurs. We want to give a girl a picture of how her future will look if she becomes an entrepreneur and what kind of preparations are needed.

They can have role models to look up to. Expectations from parents have also grown. Parents now have equal expectations of success from their daughters and sons.

How big is the gender gap in Cambodia's business world?
Gender equality in Cambodia still lags behind other countries, and women in business here still have a harder time than those in the United States and the United Kingdom. The glass ceiling is still high and we haven't broken it yet. We don't have enough numbers yet to break the glass ceiling. We still have a few more decades of struggle.

How would you help fix that gender gap?
It is an easy question, but difficult to answer. Through education, training and motivation, we find as many possible ways to help women as we can. It is hard to narrow that gap, but at least the CWEA can vouch for women's ability to other ASEAN countries.

If a new office from another country opens in Cambodia, they know to find the CWEA to introduce them to the talent and business connections they want. Women's economic power is the backbone of the society. Women's presence in the private sector is improving. It's not growing as fast as I would like it to but we are achieving that step by step.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Reaching the top is a lot easier than staying there. Unbeaten in their last six outings, Alaxan FR Patriots may well remember this harsh reality when they take on an all-fired-up Sela Meas at the Beeline Arena tomorrow in the Cambodian Basketball League sponsored by Western Union and Coca Cola.

As the top-ranked team with half of the season gone, the Patriots are the obvious prime targets for every side they line up against. They have to bring out their best every time they are on court and so far they have been doing that with great gusto.

There were moments of anxiety for the Patriots last week when they crossed paths with the second favourites for the title, IRB The Lord. But Aimar Sabayo's versatile display got them through to a victory that was far more convincing in the end than the margin suggested.

The Patriots may find Sela Meas an equally harsh proposition and will have to be in their best form to deal with the purely Cambodian combination, which counts reputation-bashing as one of its traits.

Sela Meas are endowed with the strength and skill that could trouble the best in the business, and if the team succeeds in getting its act together on the day, the Patriots may have some hard time on court.

The top-ranked side will have to be on the look out for baskets coming from behind the perimeter, an area of Sela Meas forte, while keeping their own aggressive stream flowing.

First up at 10am tomorrow morning, Extra Joss Warriors have a relatively easy task of playing the all-Chinese Galaxy, a side that is completely out of depth right now. Despite the impressive stats that he has put in, one Kelvin Chan is just not enough to make Galaxy more competitive than they are.

Against a well balanced side that has the added incentive of height like the Warriors, Galaxy will probably find the going real tough.

The Warriors may find this easy picking to turn around two successive defeats unless they allow these reverses to prey on their minds and let Galaxy take advantage of that.

The teams ranked ninth and tenth – Pate 310 and NSK Dream – will be locked in a fight that could well determine their futures in the league this season. The winner will stay in the hunt for a play-off slot, while the loser may be a step closer to packing up.

An interesting aside to this game is the individual rivalry between Pate's Sok Tour and Dream's Samnang Sok.

In tomorrow's final game, a high stakes battle is on the cards when Ganzberg take to the court against Cellcard Eagles.

Credited with the second best offence among the 12 teams in the league, Ganzberg has showcased some great combinations involving Jeff Cruz and Sander David. The team has managed to post an average of 68 points per game, and if they can reproduce that progression, the Eagles could be in hot water.

But can the Eagles' reputed tight zone defence keep Ganzberg at bay? Therein lies the key to the success of either team.

Saturday's Schedule
Galaxy v Extra Joss Warriors – 10am
Pate 310 v NSK Dream – 2pm
Sela Meas v Alaxan FR Patriots – 4pm
Ganzberg v Cellcard Eagles – 6pm

The triple-header following MotoGP's summer break comes to an end at Silverstone with this weekend's British Grand Prix, which is set to be hotly contested as the field try to find a way past the near-unstoppable Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda.

The 20-year-old Spaniard – firmly at the top of the championship after taking four successive victories since Germany – remains the man to beat, with his team-mate Dani Pedrosa and reigning champion Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo keen to claw back points in their respective title bids. Sunday's main race starts at 7pm Cambodian time.

A prisoner was knocked unconscious and sent to hospital on Wednesday after he fell from a tree while cutting branches at a kindergarten in Sihanoukville.

The incident sparked outrage from police and commune officials who said Preah Sihanouk prison bosses had not told them of the prisoners' presence in the community.

"This case has shocked and scared people," said Kong Sear, the chief of Commune 2 in Sihanoukville. "Police had not been informed that those prisoners were carrying out work in the community."

Five workers had been cutting the branches of trees at the kindergarten – for firewood for the prison's kitchen – when Von Ret, 30, lost his footing and fell three metres to the ground, villagers told police. Prison officials took him to the provincial hospital.

Som Prak, the Commune 2 police chief, said prison officials should have told him prisoners were working outside, so that officers could ensure the safety of residents.

"Prison officials have to take responsibility for a case like this, but we're also partly accountable if a prisoner dies, disappears or is violent," he said.

Som Sophal, director of Preah Sihanouk prison, said the prisoners that had been working outside had not committed any serious crimes and had shown signs of reform behind bars, and confirmed that they had been up the tree because the prison needed firewood.

"We regret that one of our prisoners fell. But scans show no serious damage has occurred and he is … walking around as usual," he said.

With the threat of a strike on the Khmer Rouge tribunal's Cambodian side looming ever larger, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for donors to come up with additional financing for a court "in crisis" or risk losing it entirely.

"Cambodian staff have not been paid since June," he said in a speech, according to a transcript of the remarks. "The very survival of the Court is now in question."

Open Society Justice Initiative tribunal monitor Heather Ryan said it was "noteworthy" that Ban had addressed the court's struggle, but added that the tribunal still required "creative and practical solutions".

"One possibility would be for the UN to contribute to the court from general funds rather than relying on voluntary funding from individual countries," she said in an email.

Though the "solution has the disadvantage of letting the Government of Cambodia and the historic donors of the court off the hook", she added, such a measure may be the only option left.

A two-week strike in March over unpaid wages was ended by a similar "bridging fund" from the UN, a measure that court spokesman Neth Pheaktra said might be "necessary" to avert the strike, which is scheduled for September 1.

Meanwhile, UN special expert to the tribunal David Scheffer, who recently completed a tour of four ASEAN capitals, said in an email that member states had received him "warmly", but that the prospect of funding was still tentative.

"My best judgement is that these ASEAN governments are considering financial support for the ECCC but the timing of that support remains uncertain," he said.

The head of the National Police has issued a directive to all departments, provinces and municipalities, ordering them to stop deducting money from officers' salaries for so-called "charitable work" each month, according to a copy of the document obtained.

In the August 22 directive, signed by National Police chief Neth Savoeun, all police forces under the purview of the National Police were ordered to restrict their deductions to those intended for the officers' professional organisation, the Police Association, whose purpose is to disburse funds to officers in times of hardship.

The announcement comes on the heels of allegations in a note stuffed in a ballot box on July 28. In it, a soldier stationed in Preah Vihear accused his commanding officers of skimming money from soldiers' salaries.

"In departments, entities and provincial/municipal police sta­tions that fail to implement the instruction, the leaders must be held responsible under the regulations, disciplines and laws," the directive reads.

According to one police officer, who declined to be named, not all of the money deducted from salaries for "charitable work" goes to charity.

"My superior has deducted from my money since the Preah Vihear conflicts. One police officer has 40,000 riel (about $10) deducted per month, and a cut of the money is for the [Cambodian People's] Party – more than 10,000 riel depending on their rank," he said. He added that he welcomed the directive but those above him were none too happy to lose out on their cut of subordinates' pay.

"Our salary is low, and it is almost all deducted, so I was happy when I heard this news."

A normal officer's salary, he added, ranges from $125 to $150 per month, but monthly cuts of more than $12.50 made it almost impossible to support his family.

Chan Soveth, a senior investigator for rights group Adhoc, said collecting money for charity is one thing, but such deductions "should be discussed beforehand, to see whether or not it is agreed to".

Prime Minister Hun Sen will leave for China on Monday to lead a delegation to attend the two-day ASEAN-China Expo in Nanning, Guangxi province, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, in the latest of a flurry of diplomatic exchanges between the two countries.

The trip, which will focus on regional economic and trade cooperation, will include a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Keqiang. The prime minister will be accompanied by Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong visited China this week for the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited the Kingdom earlier this month, where he congratulated the ruling party on its election win and pledged his nation's support for Cambodia in preventing any act of "external disturbance".

Foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong declined to give further details about the planned meetings yesterday, while the premier's spokesman could not be reached.

Thousands of striking garment workers are set to return to work today, as more than two weeks of demonstrations at one of Asia's largest garment factories come to a close.

Meas Sotha, a shareholder at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd, and Kong Athit, vice president of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), which represents SL employees, yesterday confirmed that the 6,000 workers intended to return to their posts.

Striking began on August 12, as workers demanded that SL remove military police standing guard inside the factory and cut all ties with Sotha, the man who hired them.

The workers' return to work comes after a meeting between C.CAWDU, SL management and the Phnom Penh municipal government, during which government officials ordered SL to cut ties with Sotha, Athit said.

Sotha yesterday evening said he had not received any information about his alleged dismissal. Officials from City Hall could not be reached.

Two suspects may owe their lives to the police who arrested them, after the officers stepped in on a mob of villagers who were beating them senseless after an alleged robbery attempt.

On Tuesday night, Lem Heng, 32 and Chan Sothy, 22, both of Phnom Penh's Russey Keo district, invited their 23-year-old victim, Tochy Rasy, and his wife, Chea Vimean, 18, out for a night of drinking, said Kan Vannak, police chief of Daun Penh district's Srah Chak commune.

The couple, who only met Heng and Sothy a few nights before, accepted the invitation.

As the victims headed home, Heng and Sothy tried to steal their motorbike in Srah Chak, Vannak said. But when nearby residents heard the victims shouting for help, a mob gathered around the would-be thieves and began pummelling them.

"The suspects were saved in time by the police," Vannak said.

Heng and Sothy were both arrested and sent to the Daun Penh district police station for questioning, Vannak said.

This is a serious error of the court. They delayed without searching the phone system, so the incriminatory evidence was completely lost and it cannot be validated.

Global beverage brand Coca-Cola, through its franchise in Cambodia, has stepped in to co-sponsor the country's Davis Cup team heading to Dubai next week for the 2013 Asia-Oceania Group III cycle.

The one-time Coca-Cola Cambodia partnership with the national squad was announced in Phnom Penh yesterday, boosting the Tennis Federation of Cambodia with an additional layer of support and encouragement in the lead up to the Dubai mission, beginning on September 11.

Entertainment and gaming industry giants NagaWorld are the main sponsors of the Davis Cup team for the second year in succession. The TFC and NagaWorld struck a highly successful partnership last year when Cambodia made a spectacular Davis Cup debut in Group IV, earning a promotional ticket to this year's Group III.

"We are impressed by TFC's impeccable track record both on and off the court and its vigorous promotion of the sport country wide," Coca-Cola Cambodia's public affairs and communication manager Lim Lina told the Post at the National Training Centre, where the Davis Cup team members were going through preparations.

"Tennis is a global sport and Coca- Cola is a global brand and they go well together. We are proudly privileged to be part of this extraordinary moment for Cambodian tennis."

Although Coca-Cola's backing for the Dubai-bound team is a one-off, the Cambodian franchise is likely to get involved in the future with some of TFC's new initiatives.

"There is a possibility that we will support the three ITF Men's Futures events the TFC will be hosting in November-December," Lim said, while expressing her willingness to consider getting involved with the Federation's much anticipated launch of its street tennis program.

TFC secretary-general Tep Rithivit told the Post: "We welcome Coca-Cola to our Davis Cup fold, though they have been with us for quite some time at various other levels. The TFC is honoured to get this endorsement from a reputed global brand like Coca-Cola.

"More than co-sponsors, we prefer Coca-Cola to be one of our partners and I hope this partnership keeps building beyond this Davis Cup mission," he added.

For the second time in as many weeks, an NGO has accused tycoon Try Pheap of facilitating illegal logging in a protected forest during the election campaign and post-election period, and with the protection of authorities.

In a report set to be released today by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, the group claims to have evidence of rampant illegal logging in Preah Vihear province at the behest of the powerful oknha.

"The trees in those areas are not logged by tycoon Try Pheap, they are logged by locals and concerned authorities. But the person who is responsible is Try Pheap, because all the trees cut out of the forest are protected by the authorities … and they are bought by Try Pheap," said senior researcher Chim Savuth, who wrote the report.

Savuth said he had trailed the company for months and seen illegal logging take place on a daily basis since the start of July.

At least a hundred cubic metres of timber illegally felled in protected areas of Boeung Per Wildlife sanctuary are delivered to Try Pheap's legal warehouses daily, said Savuth, after which his trucks deliver them elsewhere.

Nearly all of the formerly protected sanctuary was reclassified and divvied up for ELCs several years ago, leaving just small areas protected. Those remaining areas, however, are increasingly threatened, said Savuth.

"If the government does not take immediate action, all forest north of Prey Lang will see the entire supply of th'nong [luxury wood] disappear within two months," Savuth said.

Regularly, the movement is done with the assistance of Forestry Administration officers, Savuth maintained, who brought wood to their office, where it was picked up by Try Pheap's trucks. "Preventing deforestation is not a difficult thing for government to deal with if the government is willing to do so conscientiously, because the forestry laws are enough for preventing those crimes.

After receiving the information, the government [should] ask for investigation first, and if the government does not know the area, I will show them," he said.

Spokesmen for Try Pheap could not be reached for comment yesterday, but a man who answered the tycoon's phone and declined to give his name denied that any illegal actions had taken place.

"If there is an allegation [of wrongdoing], the police can work on it legally. But our company will not be responsible for every crime [done at the lower level], because the manager in that area is responsible. And in Preah Vihear, Ouk Kim San is the manager," he said.

Kim San, a former Forestry Administration official who was busted in 2009 trying to smuggle two truckloads of illegal luxury timber into Vietnam, could not be reached for comment.

Preah Vihear provincial forestry administration director Pol Kham Nare could not be reached for comment. His deputy director, Lem Moa, declined to address the allegations, saying he was in a meeting when told about the subject and later saying he was not qualified to answer the question.

Last week, a pair of local NGOs released a similar report, saying that at least a dozen companies, including those owned by Try Pheap and other prominent developers, had undertaken rampant illegal logging during the past two months.

A village chief from Kampong Cham province drowned on Tuesday and a second man remains missing after strong winds capsized and sank a motor boat travelling along a tributary of the Mekong River.

Mach Chenda, deputy police chief of Koh Sotin district, identified the body recovered yesterday afternoon as Nay Korn, 68, a village chief.

Chhorn Net, 52, is still missing but believed to also have drowned, while six survived the accident after a group of fishermen saved them, according to Chenda.

"The victims sank with the boat after the strong winds hit. The victims' families tried to find the body for hours, but still have found nothing," he said.

All eight occupants of the boat were travelling home after attending a funeral across the river at 3pm and were about 500 metres from the shore before the boat began sinking.

The six survivors were saved by a fisherman, Chenda said, adding that seasonal rains recently increased the tributary's volume.

As Vietnam takes steps towards legalising gambling for its own citizens, analysts warn of a threat to the bottom line at Cambodia's premiere casino, NagaWorld, whose patronage depends largely on gamblers from neighbouring countries.

Local Vietnamese news agency Thanh Nien reported on Tuesday that the Vietnamese Communist Party's Politburo had decided to allow Vietnamese "meeting certain criteria" to gamble in a casino to be built in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

The move suggests the government is leaning towards relaxing some, if not all, of its ban on Vietnamese nationals gambling in the country.

Analysts were quick to point out that a quality alternative in Vietnam may draw back those crossing the border to venture over to NagaWorld.

"From the long-term point of view, it is definitely negative for Cambodia and NagaWorld because 35 per cent of visitors actually come from Vietnam," said Katherine Sun, an analyst at Morgan Stanley.

In its latest report on parent company NagaCorp, Morgan Stanley says that the newly opened casino Ho Tram, just hours from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, could potentially eat into NagaWorld's market share.

The impact, the analysis says, would be limited due to the existing ban on Vietnamese gambling that urges players over the border in the first place. But the ban seems to be slowly easing up.

At NagaWorld, mass market (non-VIP) gamblers accounted for 75 per cent of its $111.5 million gross profit for the first half of 2013, according to the parent company's website. More than a third of mass market gamblers are Vietnamese, analysts said.

"If Vietnam completely makes it free for their own people to gamble, it will definitely have a negative impact on performance," said CIMB gaming analyst Michael Ting from Hong Kong.

Ting said the severity of the impact will depend on the type of customer being targeted. NagaWorld has a strong brand that "higher-end customers" are willing to travel for, Ting said. While overshadowed by NagaWorld, with its 130 tables and some 1,500 gaming machines, the majority of Cambodia's casinos are located along the Thai and Vietnamese borders, another potential soft spot if changes are made in Vietnam.

Thanh Nien reported last week that police in the Vietnamese province of Long An said that 1,300 Vietnamese were crossing the border to gamble every day.

In the Cambodian border town of Bavet in Svay Rieng province, where 11 casinos are in operation, Tok Kimsay, an adviser to the Titan King Casino, said there might be a slight downturn, but the gamblers from China, South Korea, Laos and Thailand would plug any gap.

"I am not worried about that because we are open to all customers except our locals and we have a lot of markets besides Vietnam," he said, declining to comment on the revenue share Vietnamese clients brought in to his casino.

NagaCorp representatives did not return several requests for comment.

Despite the fact that beverage consumption in Cambodia is on the rise, government statistics show that imports of alcohol and non-alcoholic products in the first half of 2013 have declined by 51 per cent year-on-year.

The seemingly conflicting figures left some scratching their heads. Meng Saktheara, director general of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said yesterday that the numbers weren't realistic amid an environment of increased demand and limited domestic beverage production, which increased only slightly in the past year.

"The 51 per cent rate of decline is too much, and I do not think local production can be able to reduce the amount of import in such a big rate," Theara said. "Even if we have seen increases in some brewery factories to serve local consumption, I think our production capacity is still [limited] to balance demand."

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia imported about 720,000 litres of alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks in the first half of this year, down from nearly 1.5 million litres in the same period of 2012.

Kong Putheara, director of the statistics department at the Ministry of Commerce, relayed comments about the puzzling statistics to an official at Camcontrol, an institute that records import and export information. But when contacted by phone yesterday, the representative said he was not authorised to speak to the media.

In recent months, critics have pointed out that the problem of reliable data is becoming more urgent, as the creation of the ASEAN economic community in 2015 will use government data to create lasting policies.

This isn't the first time that official data has been questioned by officials in recent months. In May, Ministry of Commerce data showed that Cambodia exported nearly 50 tonnes of fish products in the first quarter of the year – a sizeable drop from the 620 tonnes over the same period in 2012.

Nao Thouk, director-general of the Fisheries Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said at the time that he was hesitant to believe the figures.

With fish consumption rising, Thouk noted, exports may have declined to meet demand, but the dip doesn't go well with Cambodia's plans to boost fishery production to 500,000 tonnes annually by 2019.

Inflation in Cambodia rose to 2.9 per cent over the first half of this year, up from 1.8 per cent over the same period in 2012, a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) report said. The rate, the central bank added, is manageable due to sound macroeconomic performance aided by the stabilisation of the exchange rate against the dollar.

NBC governor Chea Chanto said during the first semester meeting last week that the inflationary rate was controllable thanks to the increase of foreign reserves, reaching $4 billion by the end of June, a 13.4 per cent year-on-year increase.The riel slightly appreciated by 0.7 per cent.

"Inflation below three per cent is manageable," he said.

"The stabilisation of the price and the riel help to enhance building trust by the public in our economy."

The Ministry of Economy and Finance in June projected economic growth of 7.6 per cent this year, while the annual inflationary rate is estimated at four per cent, down from three per cent last year.

A squad of six Cambodian bodybuilders set off by bus to Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday morning to compete at the 47th Asian Bodybuilder and Physique Sports Championships, which started the same day and runs until Monday at the Phu Tho stadium.

The Kingdom's musclemen had generally struggled to match the standard of international competitors in the past, but a concerted effort by the Cambodian Body Building and Fitness Federation and its students has helped yield some hopes for medals in the event attended by representatives from 32 nations.

According to CBBFF president Rasmey Sokmongkul, who is privately funding the trip and will accompany the team abroad along with two more coaches, Cambodia's Sambo Nan recently came fourth at a competition in China while his brother Sambo Nuon grabbed seventh.

The Thai-based siblings are not in the delegation bound for Vietnam, but Sokmongkul says he is confident of success from the other Cambodia team members.

"We believe Sok Sopheak will get a medal and Tek Bun Vi and Heng Bun Neang will finish in the top five because they've got lots of experience competing abroad. However, it is hard to predict the results for the other three men as it is the first time they have competed internationally," the president said.

The competition in Ho Chi Minh City involves both height and weight classes. Sok Sopheak will contest the 1.5-metre category, while Nuot Sophal will compete at 1.75m. Tek Bun Vi is vying for glory in the over-75kg division, Seng Thear in the 55kg section, Som Somnang at 60kg and Heng Bun Neang at 70kg.

Before departing for Vietnam, Sok Sopheak told the Post: "I've joined international competitive events 10 times already. With [this experience], I've learned lots about my weaknesses and prepared pretty well for these Games. As a result, I'm confident enough to bring back a medal."

Returning from a two-year hiatus, the National Bokator Championships began its first of four days of competition on Tuesday at Dambol Touk indoor hall of the National Sports Complex.

The field has been significantly streamlined from its 2010 edition, which welcomed 222 participants, to 99 from 10 clubs nationwide.

A morning session booked out with form moves performances saw Hem Sochetra of Puthisastra Club reign supreme in the men's division with a score of 6.76.

Labokator White Lion club-mates Ek Rithykun and Chhol Sothona took silver and bronze with 6.66 and 6.58 respectively.

Meanwhile, Green Gecko Martial School students dominated the women's podium as Ni Cheang Eng triumphed with a 6.75 routine, Nan Bonan came second on 6.66 and Kheang Kim Khun third on 6.50.