Khin Cherry Thet - Precision Specialist | Petanque Player Profile
Khin Cherry Thet, Myanmar's two-time SEA Games precision-shooting champion (2021, 2023) and 2023 World Champion in Women's Precision Shooting, beating Vietnam's Thach Thi Anh Lan in Bangkok.
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Khin Cherry Thet - Quick Facts
| Full name | Khin Cherry Thet |
| Nationality | Myanmar |
| Role | Shooter (precision specialist) |
| World titles | 1 gold (Precision Shooting, 2023) |
| SEA Games record | Medals at five straight editions (2015-2025): 2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze |
Myanmar's Precision Specialist
Khin Cherry Thet is the player most responsible for Myanmar's modern presence on pétanque's international stage. A dedicated precision shooter, she carried the country's results through the 2020s almost single-handedly, culminating in the 2023 Women's Precision Shooting World Championship - Myanmar's first, and so far only, individual pétanque world title. Across five consecutive SEA Games, from her 2015 debut to 2025, she has never left the podium empty-handed.
2023 World Champion
Thet's signature result came at the 19th Women's Triple and Junior World Championship, held 23-27 November 2023 at Bangkokthonburi University in Bangkok, Thailand. In the individual Women's Precision Shooting event, she beat Tunisia's Mouna Béji 43-33 in the quarter-final, survived a tight 44-43 semi-final against the host nation's Kantaros Choochuay, and closed it out with a 42-25 win over Vietnam's Thạch Thị Ánh Lan in the final - the same semi-final round in which Laos's Bovilak Thepphakan fell 24-25 to Thạch Thị Ánh Lan to take bronze. It capped a run of SEA Games shooting success and gave Myanmar its first individual world championship gold in the sport.
Five Straight SEA Games Medals
Thet's international career has tracked five consecutive editions of the Southeast Asian Games. She broke through with bronze in women's singles at the 2015 Games in Singapore - her first SEA Games medal - then added a bronze in women's triples at the 2019 Games in Clark, Philippines, alongside Tin Tin Wai, Aye Aye Nyein, and Yin Yin Win Shein. She won her first individual shooting gold at the 2021 Games in Hanoi, Vietnam (held in May 2022 after a pandemic postponement), and defended it at the 2023 Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At the 2025 Games in Khlong Luang, Thailand, she reached a third straight shooting final but lost 37-43 to Thailand's Lalita Chiaochan, settling for silver and denying her a third consecutive individual title.
Rebuilding Myanmar's Pétanque Pedigree
Myanmar hosted pétanque's SEA Games debut on home soil in 2013, but its results cooled afterward - just two bronzes at the 2015 Games and no medals at all in 2017. Thet, whose own SEA Games career had begun with that 2015 singles bronze, rebuilt the country's international standing around the individual precision-shooting discipline from 2019 onward, making it Myanmar's single most reliable source of pétanque medals through the mid-2020s.
Legacy
Khin Cherry Thet has not yet matched Cambodia's Ke Leng, the sport's most dominant precision shooter with four consecutive World Championship titles (2013-2019), but her 2023 world title and run of five straight SEA Games medals mark her as one of the strongest shooters Southeast Asia has produced this decade. The rival she beat in that 2023 semi-final, Thailand's Kantaros Choochuay, went on to win the next edition's World Championship shooting title in 2025 - a reminder of how competitive the event remains across the region Thet helped put on the pétanque map.
Note: biographical details beyond her competition record (birth date, hometown, club) could not be confirmed from the sources available for this profile - consistent with the generally sparse international press coverage of Southeast Asian pétanque players outside major tournament results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Khin Cherry Thet?
Khin Cherry Thet is a Myanmar pétanque player and the country's leading precision shooter. She won the 2023 Women's Precision Shooting World Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, and has taken SEA Games shooting gold twice (2021, 2023), silver once (2025), and medaled at five consecutive SEA Games editions since her 2015 debut.
What is Khin Cherry Thet's biggest title?
Her headline result is the 2023 Women's Precision Shooting World Championship, won in Bangkok, Thailand (23-27 November 2023). She beat Tunisia's Mouna Béji 43-33 in the quarter-final, edged Thailand's Kantaros Choochuay 44-43 in a tight semi-final, and defeated Vietnam's Thạch Thị Ánh Lan 42-25 in the final - Myanmar's only individual pétanque world title to date.
How has Khin Cherry Thet done at the SEA Games?
She has medaled in pétanque at every SEA Games from 2015 to 2025: bronze in women's singles (2015, Singapore), bronze in women's triples (2019, Philippines), gold in individual shooting (2021, Hanoi, and 2023, Phnom Penh), and silver in individual shooting (2025, Thailand), where she lost the final 37-43 to Thailand's Lalita Chiaochan, missing out on a third straight shooting gold.
Is Khin Cherry Thet related to Myanmar's broader pétanque program?
She is the central figure in Myanmar's modern pétanque results. After the country's pétanque program cooled off following its 2013 home SEA Games (two bronzes in 2015, no medals in 2017), Thet rebuilt Myanmar's international pedigree almost single-handedly from 2019 onward, anchoring the individual precision-shooting event as the country's most reliable source of medals.
Where does Khin Cherry Thet rank among pétanque's great precision shooters?
She is not yet in the company of Cambodia's Ke Leng, a four-time consecutive Women's Precision Shooting World Champion (2013-2019), but her 2023 world title plus five straight SEA Games medals in the discipline put her among the strongest shooters Southeast Asia has produced this decade. Thailand's Kantaros Choochuay, whom she beat in the 2023 semi-final, went on to win the next World Championship shooting title in 2025.