Sports in Cambodia
on Phnom Penh Pal (Cambodia), 10/Jul/2013 10:00, 34 days ago
When I walk through a market here, I sometimes find a Cambodian quietly sidling up beside me to measure themselves against my shoulder. Their friends are usually found having a friendly giggle a few yards away. Cambodia is a nation of small people which makes volleyball, a sport for tall people, a very strange choice of national sport.The best volleyball court in the world; literally on the riverbank of the Mekong in Kompong Cham. That's my knee that you can see as I'm sit on the wall above drinking a beer. At about 5pm every day throughout the country, men will finish work and gather for a game of volleyball. Probably due to a reliance on manual labour, the impressive athleticism of Cambodians allows them to be springing upwards to spike the ball better than Tom Cruise in Top Gun. It's pretty serious stuff, especially as there is always at least $5 riding on the outcome. Unfortunately, Cambodia does still get whacked when they play internationals against giants.People rise with the sun to get their exercise in before it hots up. So at 6am you will find people playing another favourite sport - kick a shuttle-cock type thing about - better described inthis videoI took. Some of them are ridiculously talented, letting it go over their heads, and kicking it from behind their head through arms raised above their heads to another person. I felt very privileged to be asked to join once, then felt very ashamed as I disproved a widespread Cambodian belief that foreigners are always better at everything.A great thing about Cambodia is that exercise often takes place in the streets or pavements. Walking down the road can involve dodging flying shuttlecocks as a security guard and friend, or a mother and daughter, or a husband and wife are playing badminton (without a net). It reminds of playing 'kerbie' (throwing a ball from one side of the road to hit off the kerb on the other side) when I was young.6am on a Sunday morning at the riversideBeing Asia, ping pong is a big favourite and ping pong halls are full most days. Apart from the one that I go to with friends, which is usually empty and obviously not a place for serious players. Ping pong seems to bring out the best of the Cambodian array of shrieks and yelps that they enjoy using to show whatever emotion they're having (usually disagreement, disapproval, disgust etc). I've also never know ping pong to be as sweaty as it is in ping pong. One of the guys I play with (Paul!) is like a (lawn) tennis player and actually changes his shirt between games.Whilst volleyball is the sport most played by men, badminton by women and couples etc, the one that is the most watched and revered is Cambodian boxing (pradal serey, which translates as free fighting) which they will tell you pre-dates Thai boxing. When it is on, the cafes with TVs are packed full of men watching and betting. At one of the halls near the Olympic Stadium we watched some junior and club matches, which included one guy taking a dive for some cash. It was quite hilarious. He was flat out on the canvas in a star shape and then as soon as the ref counted ten, he jumped up smiling and fresh, hopped over the ropes and jogged past a guy who gave him an envelope on his way to get changed. Thisfight we filmedwas a bit more real as you can tell by the way one of the guys move towards the other after they've taken a tumble.The six-aside pitch, with top notch astroturf, where I play on a Saturday or Sunday. It's in the city but down some little lanes and alleys so that you feel that you are in the middle of the countryside. They very patiently put up with my moaning about them never coming back (trow mao kroway - must come back - is my favourite phrase).Thankfully for me, football has arrived here and I usually play every week with a group of Cambodians who I met through work. Two hours in the sun usually drains me of all liquid that my body had and requires me to drink ten coconuts in an effort to rehydrate. And having a 7:30am kick off for a game of 11s was a bit of a shock to the system. At first, due to the size difference, I felt like a Dad playing with twelve year-olds so to prevent me from accidentally hurting them, I sometimes join them in playing barefoot. It's definitely one way to feel a bit Cambodian - from the feet up.Gordon