Tennis Federation says players bound for Laos

Photo by: Khith Sipin/TFC

Cambodian national tennis players Bun Kenny (left) and Tan Nissan are greeted on arrival at Phnom Penh airport November 2.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 16 November 2009 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

THE Tennis Federation of Cambodia (TFC) has named the six delegates it will be sending to Laos for the upcoming SEA Games in December. The players include four males, Tan Nisann, Bun Kenny, Aun Sambath and Ek Chamroeun, and two females, Cheng Chornay and Cheng Srey Pich.

Chea Poev, assistant coach of the national team, said that the players have been preparing for the games for more than a year with Tan Nisann and Bun Kenny returning from France where they have trained for several years.

The coach added that since the end of the Pol Pot regime in 1979, Cambodia has participated in 10 tennis tournaments at theSEA Games, with their best result coming in 2007 in Thailand when Tan Nisann won bronze, although all other national players were knocked out in the first round.

Before arriving back in his native country on November 2, Bun Kenny joined the ATP World Tour in Thailand, but did not obtain a good result. Chea Poev hopes that his players will try their best to make history in tennis in December, noting that they’ve shown great promise and determination.

In the buildup to the SEA Games, the Cambodians have a chance to test their skills in the 14th Tep Khunnah Memorial Tennis Cup, which will be held November 20-28 at the Cambodian Country Club in Phnom Penh. This annual event is organised by the TFC to commemorate the Kingdom’s most celebrated tennis star, Tep Khunnah, ranked No 1 in Cambodia during the 1950s and 1960s, who died in 1995.