The official opening ceremony of the 3rd Asian Youth Games 2025 in Bahrain will take place this afternoon, at around 3pm Cambodian time. The kingdom’s athletes are set to participate in the parade of nations and will proudly carry the national flag while dressed in traditional Cambodian attire, before returning to competition.
According to Nhan Sokvisal, Cambodia’s Chef de Mission, Bahrain faced several challenges in preparing to host the Games since it had less than two years to organize the event. This was because Uzbekistan, the original host country, withdrew its hosting rights. Bahrain was later selected as the replacement host by international authorities.
“Bahrain’s preparation time as host was quite short, so there are some shortcomings. My team and I have been working closely with the organizers to ensure that our athletes and delegation can participate smoothly,” he explained.
“We attended the final coordination meeting to review the list of participating delegations and the various sporting disciplines. Everything went smoothly, and the Cambodian delegation will compete without any problems. We also hold daily Chef de Mission meetings every morning to raise any issues we encounter — from food and accommodation to transportation — so that solutions can be found for our team,” he added.
On Tuesday afternoon, Senior Minister Thong Khon, President of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC), led the Cambodian delegation — including coaches and athletes — to a flag-raising and souvenir ceremony, organised by the host country ahead of the official opening of the Games.
“The opening ceremony of the 3rd Asian Youth Games will take place on October 22 at 7 pm Bahrain time. Our delegation will wear national costumes during the ceremony” said Sokvisal.
He also expressed his hopes that Cambodian athletes will bring home more medals, noting that this year’s Games feature 14 sports with 33 male and 19 female athletes, a larger delegation than in the previous two Asian Youth Games, where Cambodia sent only two to three athletes each time.
“We have high expectations for several of our teams,” Sokvisal said.
“While I won’t specify which sports, we are especially hopeful about the combat sports, where we believe our athletes can win medals for our homeland,” he added.
As of now, Cambodia has already won one bronze medal, secured by Phouk Daniel in pencak silat (51–55kg category), after a loss to Indonesia’s Habbil Furgon Winata in a semifinal match.
The teqball team continues its matches, and athletes in mixed martial arts, athletics, Kun Khmer, taekwondo (WT), and 3×3 basketball all arrived in Bahrain on October 20 to prepare for competition.
The table tennis, weightlifting, swimming, badminton, wrestling, judo and jiu-jitsu squads will depart for Bahrain in the coming days.
