This Saturday, Bayon TV station will celebrate its second year of hosting the Khmer boxing with a four fighter championship featuring previous winners and runners up. Nget Ratha will face Mab Chhaya and Chantha Sarim is drawn against Soy Phearom, with the winners of each bout meeting in a final.

Also on Sunday, TV3 continues its return to live boxing broadcasts with five fights at its new stadium in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district. According to Ty Ranath, an official of TV3, the channel will strive to find the best boxers and organise regular international fights twice monthly.

Sunday sees the start of round robin bouts for CTN’s 65-kilogram championship, sponsored by local wine company Sach Dom. Eight top pugilists from various clubs across the kingdom will feature in the tournament, including Him Saran, Heng Samraing, Cheam Adam, Thai Bunhan, Khon Reach, Dun Ratha, Chea Samneang and Pech Arun. Ma Serey, director of Sport at CTN, announced the draw for the first round at a press conference Wednesday. Him Saran will meet Heng Samraing and Cheam Adam will do battle with Thai Bunhan Sunday, with the other matches scheduled for the following Sunday.

Mel Kado, representative of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and also General Secretary of Khmer Boxing Amateur Federation, hailed the progress in the Cambodia boxing sector thanks to cooperation from local TV channels. He also noted that Prime Minister Hun Sen supported boxing and would offer prize money for boxers, especially when they fought against foreigners.