Ouk Sreymom (CAM) has one of the wildest stories in sport. She is incredibly accurate when throwing objects at a target. She became World Champion at an unlikely age. She has received widespread acclaim in her home country for her unprecedented achievements.
Petanque player Sreymom hails from Cambodia, a land that is not known for its sporting prowess. The Southeast Asian nation has never won a medal at the Olympics, and prior to Sreymom’s appearance at The World Games in Birmingham 2022 had never even competed at the premier multi-sports event for non-Olympic sports.
A sensational debut, where on successive evenings, Sreymom picked up gold first in the individual precision and then in the team event meant she became Cambodia’s most successful athlete at a global multi sports gathering. Sreymom will be the headline athlete this weekend as she competes at The World Games Series in Chengdu, China, as she seeks to seal her qualification for the main event in the City of the Pandas this August. The three sports featured in the second edition of The World Games Series are Petanque, Life Saving and Underwater Swimming.
In Lifesaving, two other Birmingham 2022 Champions the Italian duo of Frederica Volpini and Francesco Ippolito will also be looking to guarantee their presence in China this summer.
Sreymom had dedicated her life to chasing perfection and has reaped the rewards in international competition.
Petanque is played outdoors with minimal spectators or atmosphere and only rarely in front of the TV cameras. The players’ sole recognition might be a paragraph or two in a regional publication acknowledging a significant triumph.
It is a great pity that Petanque and Boules Sport in general do not have the profile that the sport deserves. It is a diamond that remains largely unseen by the sporting public. There are three brilliant facets that deserve further exposure, its accessibility, universality, and ability to be mastered. Petanque is one of the most accessible sports in The World Games family; all that is needed to play is an inexpensive set of boules and a piece of waste ground. Sreymom proves that even the boules are not essential, she was throwing fruit at a stick outside the pétanque national stadium in Cambodia. The national coach spotted her and realised that her accuracy meant she had great potential. A wise decision justified by Sreymom at the ripe age of 42 becoming one of a handful of Cambodians who had earned the right to be called World Champion!
Cambodia is just one of a host of nations that have found international success on the Petanque court, that has eluded them in virtually every other sport. Recent World Championships and editions of The World Games have seen podium appearances for Madagascar, Tunisia, Laos, San Marino, Burkina Faso. The sport is a truly global leveller, giving every athlete the same chance of glory.
One of the reasons that the sporting minnows are able to compete on the world stage is that Petanque is a relatively easy sport to master. Unlike performance sports such as gymnastics or wakeboarding which demand expert proficiency across a range of movements, pétanque players can focus on just one movement; an upward flick of the wrist which is easy to practice and perfect. The precision discipline which is Sreymom’s speciality is the most straightforward to master. The target ball is placed at a fixed distance, hit it and you score points. Later throws see the introduction of obstacles to be avoided, thus making hitting the target ball significantly harder. The classic form of the games sees the opponents take turns to get their ball closest to the target, with the nearest boules gaining the points. Even Progressive Lyonnaise the most complex form of boules, which is also on the official programme of The World Games 2025, requires just three movements to master. Athletes must be capable of a five minute shuttle run. At each turn, without breaking stride they take the boule from a stand and throw it towards the target ball, with the most hits winning the match.
The repetitive nature of target sports means that it is possible to be consistently accurate in hitting the target. In theory, in sports like darts or boules if you replicate exactly a successful throw, you should obtain the same results. If you stand in the same place, with the projectile in hand positioned the same distance from your body and from the ground, and the release angle and speed are replicated, then the resulting score should be exactly the same.
That is the main difference between a professional athlete and a beginner; anyone can throw a dart or a boule. However, only a master of their sport will know the optimum place for their body and projectile to be positioned. The secret of all these athletes’ success is practice, practice, practice.
I watched Sreymom in the practice court, before her individual Final at The World Games in Birmingham. Never have I seen a more focused athlete during the warmup. She was just throwing, throwing, throwing, getting in the zone. I am certain that even if an earthquake had happened in Alabama that evening, she would not have noticed! That was the moment that I knew she would win Cambodia’s first ever gold medal at a global multi sports event!
Petanque is full of these unknown stories and deserves its chance to shine at The World Games Series!
Article written by IWGA press correspondent, Brian Salmon