The coach was kicked out for swearing at the referee, the Cambodian women's basketball team naturalization was in trouble
Competing at home, the Cambodian women's basketball team is full of hope to get the 32nd SEA Games medal with the core of the naturalized stars from the US. However, this effort soon received a cold water right after the first two matches.
In the opening match against Malaysia, the Cambodian women's team had a lead of 19 points at one point. However, in a way, the naturalized players still let the team of 100% Malaysian internal soldiers come back in extra time, losing 101-107.
In the second match against the Philippine championship candidate, Cambodia "shot itself in the foot" when the Lebanese head coach Harry Savaya was disqualified from directing.
He received two technical errors in a short period of time, both due to a harsh reaction to the referee in the second half. From a tussle in the first half, Cambodia lost the game completely after coach Harry Savaya was sent off. .
Assistant coach Olesia Malashenko, played the role of interim coach but the former Ukraine international was also unable to make much of an impact on the game.
The difference between the two teams before the break was 27 points, the score 58-31 showed the complete inability of the Cambodian team in both attack and defense.
The story of the massive naturalization of the Cambodian sports delegation is a hot topic of discussion in the region. Many countries expressed their displeasure when the Cambodian team presented a series of naturalized athletes in different sports.
Most of these athletes are "hidden" and only revealed shortly before the match, which makes it impossible for the host country's opponent to prepare, especially in the research stage before the opponent.
Basketball is no exception when Cambodia has a total of more than 10 naturalized athletes in both men's and women's teams. Many of the players are of American and European blood, which experts in the region call "nothing to do with Cambodia".
Success came when the men's 3x3 team won the gold medal to the surprise of many other countries in the region. As for the women's 3x3 team, they only finished the tournament in the top-4 strongest teams and had no medals.
