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    Cambodia's SEA Games playbook unfortunately still par for the course

    Cambodia's hoarding of naturalized players may be stretching it too far, but it's not the first time a SEA Games host bent the rules to its advantage. And it won't be the last
    May 8, 2023
    cambodia naturalized players in sea games
    PHOTO: Cambodia Basketball Federation / Cambodia Triathlon Facebook

    MUCH can be said about Cambodia's highly irregular rules when it came to its first-ever hosting of the Southeast Asian Games.

    Easily the most controversial is the eligibility rule that enabled Cambodia to bring in an obscene number of naturalized athletes to help it dominate at home.

    In basketball alone, its men's 3x3 team had three naturalized players out of the four in the roster, while the women's team was an all-naturalized selection.

    READ: Mangrobang loses SEAG triathlon title to Cambodian naturalized athlete

    The men's team, comprised of Brandon Peterson, Darrinray Dorsey, Sayeed Alkabir Pridgett, and local Tep Chhorath, beat Gilas Pilipinas, 20-15, for the gold medal.

    While Cambodia's women's team was unable to reach the podium, its mere composition was enough to create quite a stir in the biennial conclave.

    It only got worse from there.

    In triathlon, the Philippines' own Kim Mangrobang was denied a fourth straight SEA Games gold medal by another Cambodian naturalized athlete in the person of French-born Margon Garabedian.

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      As Cambodia currently lords it over the rest of the field with a 29-21-22 gold-silver-bronze medal tally, some may ask are they playing it fair?

      Even Gilas 3x3's Almond Vosotros made his frustration felt after losing the gold medal match.

      "Heads up, guys, everybody knows they are not playing Cambodia," he said in a now viral SPIN.ph video.

      WATCH:

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      But contrary to what other people might think, changing the rules to fit the host's needs isn't exactly new in the SEA Games.

      Since the early 2000s, the SEA Games rules, from its eligibility requirements to lineup of sports, been skewed left and right to favor its host country.

      The SEA Games Federation has given such leeway as an incentive to the host, in an effort to encourage the different Southeast Asian nations to bid for the hosting rights.

      The most unique rule is the ability of the hosts to add or remove certain sports or events.

      READ: Gilas 3x3 caught off-guard by Cambodian lineup

      Aside from mandatory Olympic sports, namely aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, shooting, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, and weightlifting, hosts can add or remove events to fatten their gold-medal count.

      The Philippines itself added a lot of events in the Games it hosted.

      In 2005, we added arnis, which was previously a demonstration sport, to be a medal sport with six sets of medals. To no one's surprise, the Philippines nabbed three of the six available gold medals.

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      We also added baseball, dance sport, and softball in that edition of the meet - events where the Philippines has historically been successful in.

      In the 2019 SEA Games in Manila, the Philippines also added beach handball, duathlon, esports, jiu jitsu, kickboxing, kurash, sambo, skateboarding, surfing, and wakeboarding.

      Other countries chose to add indigenous sport, like Vietnam's Vovinam last year, and Myanmar's Chinlone in 2013, where they won six of the eight gold medals in the sport.

      In 2007, Thailand added new categories of sepak takraw while replacing the traditional rattan ball for a rubber ball, which was uncommon in other participating countries.

      cambodia naturalized players in sea games 3x3

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      The change caused so much controversy, in fact, that Malaysia ended up boycotting the sport. As a result, Thailand won gold in all eight sepak takraw events.

      So while Cambodia may have stretched the rules so much it leaves a sour taste in the mouths of other participating countries, it isn't really breaking any of the rules set by the SEA Games Federation.

      But as controversy hounds the current edition of the SEA Games, it might be high time for the SEA Games Federation to rethink its rules to pave the way for a competition where fair play is still paramount.

      Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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      PHOTO: Cambodia Basketball Federation / Cambodia Triathlon Facebook
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