Members of a disabled Cambodian volleyball team exercise during training at the Olympic National Stadium in Phnom PenhBy Rachel O'Brien
AFP
PHNOM PENH — As Chim Phan gracefully leaps for the ball on the dusty Cambodian volleyball court, it's hard to believe the star athlete is missing his lower leg -- until you notice his tell-tale prosthetic limb.
He and his team-mates are the impoverished country's only world-ranking sports team, the top disabled volleyballers in the Asia-Pacific region and third-best in the world after Germany and Slovakia.
"We want to get to number one," Chim Phan said after a tough training session ahead of the 2009 World Cup tournament, which begins on Monday in Phnom Penh with six nations battling for the championship.
"Now our disabled sport is well known, not only throughout Cambodia but also overseas. People were surprised that disabled people can play sport.... Now they recognise it and they're very interested."
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