Riem Sokphirom has emerged one of the breakout stars of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, winning gold in teqball this week when he defeated Indonesia in the final.
But Sokphirom is more than just a medallist—he is also a singer with the band SmallWorld SmallBand, and has several hit songs to his name, including “Tong Cheat Khmer '' (Khmer National Flag).
Sokphirom's gold medal is Cambodia's first in teqball at the SEA Games. He emerged triumphant, scoring 2-1 in the final round in the men's single after beating Indonesia’s Putra Yoga Ardika at the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
Sokphirom, 34, was born in Phnom Penh. Before becoming a teqball athlete, he joined the U-13 football national team in 2005, and then moved to sepak takraw in 2007.
Also harbouring an intense passion for art, he became a member of Smallworld Smallband in 2012 working with other artists to produce well-known albums, with some of the songs being about sport, love, and encouragement.
Sokphirom told Kiripost in an interview, “Everyone is sometimes confused when they see me involved both in sport and music at the same time. I would say that I have DNA of both sport and music, so when I am free from playing sport, it’s the time for my music work.
“Combining these fields together, I can finally come up with a so-called sport song. For example, in this SEA Games event, I’ve joined with my team to make one song called, "This is Our Time”,” he said, adding teqball was first talked about as a sport in Cambodia in 2022.
“I just knew it would only be a short time before deciding to join in as an athlete. I checked it on YouTube to know what it is, how it is played, and the differences between it and previous sports I played,” he added.
On February 27, 2023, teqball officially landed in Cambodia right at the time that the sports federation announced there were no more available places for sepak takraw. Therefore, he decided to join teqball, however, with less confidence.
He said, “I’m good and experienced with sepak takraw, but I applied for teqball, even though it was a great challenge for me. I still chose to join because it’s a big event as Cambodia is the host, and it is always my dream to make my country proud.”
He added that with good cooperation and support from the International Teqball Federation to Cambodia, teqball was finally added as a sport to the SEA Games after relentless work from the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, Vath Chamroeun.
He said that after seeing that the sport is new, FITEQ asked a teqball coach from Hungary to come to Cambodia and help with both rules and technical training.
Sokphirom said that before joining the sport, he knew it was hard, but due to the tremendous support from friends, fans, and family, he pushed himself and tried to train even harder.
“Besides I was training with the coach, I worked more by myself by warming up and doing more exercise because the sport requires strong body power and smart flexibility,” he said.
Because the coach, identified only as Marton, only had three months in the country, he said it was hard for him to train athletes. The sport is the newest to be introduced to Cambodia and is played in 11 countries worldwide.
“I have to do all that I can; running, standing, walking, and even sleeping. No matter what it takes, I must be strong spiritually and physically because I am playing this sport for my beloved people and nation,” he said.
“It might be a normal thing to others but it is a whole world to me already. I am standing right here among tens of millions of people witnessing this historical day and event with profound pride, which cannot be described in words,” he said.
He said that he felt nervous during matches but had positive thoughts to make himself feel confident.
“Why should I feel nervous because right here is my home country? Everyone places their hope on me, so why not move on?”
