GRANDMASTER (gm) Eugene Torre and Woman GM Janelle Frayna led an 11-member chess team that flew to Phnom Penh on Thursday along with the cricket squad for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games that open in exactly a week.
The chess and cricket squads will join the members of the windsurfing team who were already in Cambodia since April 18 to familiarize themselves with the competition venue in Sihanoukville.
Next to fly to Cambodia on Saturday are the hockey, triathlon and volleyball teams as well as support staff from the Philippine Sports Commission.
Members of Team Philippines are flying to Cambodia on different batches based on their competition schedule with a big bulk of the delegation set to leave for Phnom Penh on May 2, three days before the opening ceremony on May 5 at the 60,000-seat Morodok Techo Stadium.
The PSC is funding the country’s partipation in Cambodia with 840 athletes seeing action in 38 of 40 sports in the Games program.
Chess starts on Saturday with the ouk chaktrang, a Cambodian chess variant introduced by the hosts. The country clinched two silver and three bronze medals last year in Hanoi.
The team from the Philippine Cricket Association Inc. was led by chief executive officer Faisal Khan, six-a-side captain Jennifer Olmillo Alumbro and T10 skipper Simranjeet Figuerra Sirah.
Cricket is being played in the SEA Games for only the second time since Kuala Lumpur 2017.
The windsurfers who are already in Cambodia are Josa Gonzales, Ronelio Castelio, Teogenes Villando and Jeanson Lumapas. They are out to improve on the two gold and one silver medals they bagged in Hanoi.