Cambodian volleyball superstar Voeurn Veasna has willingly passed on tens of thousands of dollars in salary payments to train with the Cambodian national team. He will be unavailable to top Chinese Taipei club Win Streak from October, opting to join the national squad in training for the 33rd SEA Games, which will be held in Thailand this December.
Despite eight straight losses in their recent SEA V.League 2025 appearances, the leadership of the Cambodian Volleyball Federation believe the national team can create a miracle in this year’s SEA Games medal race.
Aing Serey Piseth, federation secretary-general, confirmed this to media this morning, August 15.
He said the training camp for the 33rd SEA Games will still go ahead, despite current tensions along the Cambodia–Thailand border, and that Veasna will join the national team camp in October.
“Veasna has promised me that in October he will join our national team training camp. This means his salary for October, November and December will not be paid by his club. I don’t know exactly how the arrangement will work, because it’s between Veasna and Win Streak, but he still decided to help us, without hesitation,” he added.
He explained that he had offered to compensate Veasna for the three months’ lost salary, but Veasna refused, saying he was doing it for the nation and to repay the leadership of the federation, who had trained and supported him, making it possible for him to make a living from then game.
“Veasna is coming for the nation. He is giving up tens of thousands of dollars (about $30,000) to help his country. I want to instil this kind of patriotism in all athletes — not just in volleyball, but in all sports — so they can take Veasna as a role model,” he said.
“When the nation calls, you must come. If we build this kind of national spirit, I believe Cambodia will prosper and never decline,” he added.
The federation has suspended the 2025 Sar Kheng Cup, originally scheduled for October, to January 2026.
This will allow players enough time to join the national team’s training camp.
“If we held the Sar Kheng Cup in October, the clubs would certainly request their players back to compete, which would split our national team and reduce its effectiveness. That’s why we’ve moved the competition to January — a more suitable time when players can return to their clubs after completing their national duty at the SEA Games,” explained Piseth.
The Secretary-General also expressed his belief that the bitter experience of the side’s V.League appearance, in which Cambodia lost all eight matches — twice each to Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, will wake the Cambodian athletes from complacency and push them to improve for a comeback.
“We know losing in the V.League was painful, but it gave us the opportunity to gauge the playing level of the four countries. It was a wake-up call to our athletes that we will have problems if we don’t improve. This bitterness will drive us to make something amazing happen at the end of the year — and that will be our reward,” he said.
