As Cambodia gears itself up to host the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the very first time next month

As Cambodia gears itself up to host the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the very first time next month, one of the country’s sporting heroes has quietly returned home from the United States to test her fitness with a view to joining the women’s football team, who themselves have just this week returned to the kingdom after a six-month training camp in China. Hout Koemhong, known to all as Kim, made headlines across the globe when she netted a double hat-trick of six goals, as she captained the Cambodian women’s team to a 12-0 success against Timor Leste in their first-ever full international in June 2018 in the AFF Women's Championship in Indonesia. That amazing debut was on the eve of Kim’s departure to take up a sports scholarship at the prestigious Bryant & Stratton College in Syracuse, New York, from which she has recently graduated. In her first year in the US, her team Bryant & Stratton College Bobcats, playing in the USCAA College League, reached the National Play-Offs, with Kim then spending half a season with Rochester Lady Lancers in the Eastern Conference of the United Women's Soccer League, the second-tier pro-am women's football league in the USA. In November 2021, the Bryant & Stratton College Bobcats won their first-ever USCAA National Championships, with Kim playing a commanding role in their midfield. Last November, the Bobcats suffered defeat in the Championship Final, though for the second time Kim was rewarded with a spot in the divisional team of the year. That was her last competitive match, hence the need to prove her fitness to the national team management ahead of the SEA Games. With the matches taking place at Phnom Penh Crown’s RSN Stadium, Kim will be on home turf having been a community coach and player with Crown before her departure to the USA. Originally from Battambang, football took her out of an orphanage and into the Mighty Girls program at Salt Academy, where she played for her country’s age-group teams before moving to the capital for her studies. Let’s hope Kim and the Cambodia women’s team enjoy some success in the weeks ahead.