The first group of Cambodia's Olympic delegation left on Wednesday for Beijing to attend the Olympic Games, which is scheduled to open on Friday.

The group of delegation has eight members, including a marathon runner, a sprinter and their coach, one swimmer and the coach, one team leader, an official and one doctor.

Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Zhang Jinfeng, who went to the Phnom Penh International Airport to see the delegation off, praised their morale and wished them success.

In addition, a reporter from local Chinese newspaper the Cambodia Sin Chew daily also went with the delegation on Wednesday to cover the Beijing Olympics.

Other delegation members, including Tourism Minister and National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) president Thong Khon, NOCC secretary general Mea Sarun, another swimmer, an official and two youths attending the Olympic Summer Camp, will depart to Beijing on Thursday.

Cambodia first attended the Olympics in 1959, then quit for a long time due to civil war. It resumed its participation in 1996 to attend the Atlanta Olympics and later sent delegations to the Sydney Games in 2000 and the Athens Games in 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2008)