Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 19, 2020: The Cambodian sports community held a special celebration for one of the Kingdom’s most famous athletes, petanque player Ke Leng, on July 17.
The 57-year-old Leng announced her retirement on May 29 due to health reasons which would have restricted her training time.
Her career included four gold medals at world championships in France in 2013, Thailand in 2015, China in 2017 and Phnom Penh in 2019.
Claude Azéma, President of the International Petanque Federation, sent a video message in which he described her as a living legend of the sport.
In the video, Mr. Azéma compared Cambodia’s world gold medalist to some of the greatest and famous athletes in the world including Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps.
As well as the four gold medals, she also won many other awards and trophies.
Source: Cambodia SEA Games 2023