Hugo Zacharie Thomas PELLETIER, assistant coach of the Cambodian national triathlon team, will strengthen the training of athletes so that they can win any of the three medals at the 2023 SEA Games, which Cambodia is hosting.

As the SEA Games in Cambodia approaches, the Cambodian triathlon team is continuing to train hard to achieve its goal of hosting a medal event. According to French assistant coach PELLETIER, nicknamed Hugo Panha, he is determined to train the team to the medal.

“Triathlon national team, they are a new team and this team was formed about six years ago, but now they are not at the international level, but every month I see them growing. “Maybe at the SEA Games, we will try to have a third, second or even first medal.” Hugo Panha recently told the digital media in an interview like this.

Hogor Panha, who has more than 10 years of experience in triathlon while living in Valence, France, has been living in Cambodia for more than three years now. He also knew the Cambodian triathlon team for three years before coaching the team as an assistant coach for more than six months.

However, the 23-year-old French assistant coach also showed that it is difficult to compete for medals at the upcoming SEA Games. Hugo Panha emphasizes that triathlon has fewer disciplines than other sports, which are difficult to win medals.

“At the SEA Games, triathlon has only eight disciplines, while other sports have up to 50 disciplines,” said Hugo Panha. “Triathlon is difficult to win a medal because there are too few disciplines.” However, the French coach still expects the Cambodian triathlon team to win one or two medals at the 32nd SEA Games.

In terms of training, he encouraged the athletes in both strength and technique, although some days the training faces weather factors such as early morning rain, which has consequences for athletes.

Apparently, not unlike the athlete’s point of view on the challenge in the sea, Mr. Hugo also mentioned the difficulty of the water bubble fish or jellyfish that interfere with training. Nowadays, when marine animals become a challenge during training, all teams have moved to training in the pool instead, and this move is to relieve stress during training instead of practicing in the sea.

For triathlon, the French coach said that this is his favorite sport because it is the only sport that has three sports combined, different from other sports that have only one.

It should be noted that triathlon is an Olympic level sport with three disciplines combined, including swimming, cycling and running. This sport requires athletes to be physically fit, strong, combined with high technique.