Cambodia’s Star Wheelchair B-Baller Is An Unstoppable Force

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Sinet An, who was born with a disability, is the star of Cambodia’s women’s wheelchair basketball team, which celebrated their first win in an international tournament just before the pandemic hit. With Cambodia in lockdown, she hones her skills in virtual practice sessions from her home in Chuuok village in Kandal province, Cambodia. The photo is from June 24.

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Cindy Liu for NPR

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Sinet An stretches during a virtual practice session.

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Cindy Liu for NPR

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Sinet An had never touched a basketball before 2013. The key to her success: «train again and again and practice again and again, to be better and better.» Because of pandemic lockdowns, she can only practice at home.

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Cindy Liu for NPR

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Sinet An lifts weights with her teammates as part of her regular workouts via Zoom.

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Cindy Liu for NPR

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Sinet An is so good at her sport that her coach posts videos of her technique to inspire other wheelchair athletes.

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Cindy Liu for NPR

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Sinet An shows off photos of her basketball team in their early days in 2013.

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Sinet An gets around on a motorbike adapted for her disability.

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Cindy Liu for NPR

Sinet An gets around on a motorbike adapted for her disability.

Cindy Liu for NPR

Sinet says practicing online has upsides and downsides.

Using Zoom can be a struggle. The live video practices can make her phone heat up.

But she’s also developed a 5-minute shooting routine. It includes shooting with a basketball and shooting without one. As Coach Joe says: It’s the form that matters.

Her stroke has gotten so nice that Higgins asked for a video he could share.

Sinet can’t wait to get back on the court. She wants to link up with her teammates and pick up where they left off.

She’s a woman of few words. Yet a competitive fire blazes in her eyes.

I ask what she thinks the team needs to improve. «First thing, we have to feel more trust among the team,» she says. Meaning: teamwork.

Anything else?

Take a guess.

«Second, we have to do more practice.»

• wheelchair basketball
• Cambodia