Vath Chamroeun said the event would help with preparations for the 2023 Southeast Asian Games ©NOCC

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) has agreed that 14 sports will be contested at the country's inaugural National Games.

Twelve of the selected sports are on the Olympic programme, with the event in capital Phnom Penh co-organised by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

Gymnastics, athletics, swimming, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, wrestling, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball will all be contested, it has been confirmed.

The non-Olympic sports to make the programme are petanque and bokator, a Khmer martial art.

Hun Samuth, director of the Physical and Sport department, said that the Games will take place between October 26 and November 5 this year.

There will be 172 events in all across the 14 sports.

Cambodian martial art bokator will be contested
Cambodian martial art bokator will be contested ©Getty Images

The event will also help the country in its preparations for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2023, which it will stage in Phnom Penh.

Athletes from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei and Timor-Leste join the Cambodians in competing at the biennial event, which will next be staged in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in 2017.

“The National Games will help us to identify the strong and weak points in the build up to the 32nd SEA Games, which Cambodia will host in 2023,” said Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of NOCC.

Cambodia are yet to win their first Olympic medal of any colour.