SEA Games 2023: From US to China and France, Cambodia’s naturalised athletes face scrutiny

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Unlike International Basketball Federation (Fiba)-sanctioned tournaments that allow one naturalised player who has acquired the passport before 16, this year’s SEA Games basketball competition has a passport-only policy regardless of when it was acquired, and no quota.

“They resort to this for immediate success but they have to understand the pride in representing the people of Cambodia all around the world.

The phenomenon is not peculiar to basketball as Cambodia has appeared like a United Nations contingent at these Games.

It has been accused of “cheating” by netizens in the badminton mixed team event – already excluding stronger nations Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines – where it fielded China-born Zhou Meng under the name Chourng Meng.

For qns on sport fairness...relate to Singapore Silver Medal in the 2008 Olympics won by Chinese naturalised players...What about Eileen Gu in the Beijing Winter Olympics?