The Cambodian U18 national volleyball team’s more than one year of training and preparation to improve their skills has ended in vain, after they were excluded from the volleyball competition at the 2025 Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.
Aing Serey Piseth, secretary-general of the Cambodian Volleyball Federation (CVF), had previously shared how the federation had gathered the youth team and trained them for about a year in preparation for the Bahrain games.
He stressed that Cambodia’s participation in this edition was very important, as the Kingdom is set to take over the Asian Youth Games flag from Bahrain and host the 4th edition in 2029. But in the end, disappointment followed when the U18 Cambodian volleyball team was not included among the 12 participating teams in Bahrain.
“Our application was submitted through the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, which acted as coordinator, and we fulfilled the requirements they asked for. But in the end, the response we got was that we were ‘Unqualified’. I find it hard to determine the exact criteria or principle needed to ensure participation,” he said.
“According to the announcement, all countries had the possibility to apply individually, but ultimately it was up to the competition’s organising committee to decide. That makes it difficult, as we do not know the precise grounds for selection,” he added.
Serey Piseth noted that he had contacted Ramon Suzara, president of the Asian Volleyball Confederation, to inquire about the reasons the team was left out of the games. However, no satisfactory solution was offered.
“I already discussed this with the president of the Asian Volleyball Confederation, and he told Cambodia to try hosting some international-level competition first. That means everything depends on their decision — whichever teams they want to admit, they simply admit,” he added.
The draw for the volleyball competition at the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain was held on September 8, with 12 teams divided into four groups.
Pool A includes hosts Bahrain, Pakistan and Mongolia. Pool B is Iran, China and Qatar. Pool C is Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia. Pool D is Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Indonesia.
