Last weekend, Cambodia’s No1 ranked player Bun Kenny entered the third leg of Tennis Malaysia’s National Circuit as No2 seed. Kenny debuted the tournament in great form, disposing of his opponents in straight sets. In the third round, he faced 26-year-old Syed Ariffin Syed Naguib of Malaysia, seeded 13th, and easily won 6-1, 6-0.

The fourth round saw him face his strongest opponent yet, sixth seeded Liu Hui Retallick from the UK. This was no problem for Bun – the Cambodian national was up to the task and defeated the Brit 6-1, 7-6(6). Bun went on to play the younger Eric Olivarez Jr in the semi-final. Starting off hot, Bun won the first set 6-3. But in the end he eventually fell to the right handed Filipino 3-6, 3-6.

“Overall, I feel like I played a good tournament. The fourth round and semi-final matches were trickier for me as my opponents mixed up their game a bit more and I had to adapt”, said Bun Kenny following his return to Phnom Penh.

There are many more tournaments coming up in August as Cambodia prepares for the Davis Cup which will be held in Amman, Jordan, in September. The Davis Cup is an excellent opportunity for the National squad to show their growth. Notably, Kenny and Long Samneang will be participating in three ITF Futures events, whereas the rest of the national team will take part in the Thailand Open on August 10.

“Competition is important at this stage. Our players need to compete in the last few weeks before the Davis Cup in Jordan. They’ve had a gruelling training the past two months.

“Now it’s time to get matches and compete before our Davis Cup campaign in September,” said Tennis Cambodia secretary-general Tep Rithivit.

Along with these important tournaments, Tan Nysan, a previous two-time SEA Games bronze medalist, will be making a return to help Cambodia.

Nysan is a 30-year-old Cambodian player born in France. He also has a total of six wins on the ATP Tour and the ITF World Tennis Tour. There is no doubt he will add some veteran experience to the Cambodian squad.

This year the group includes: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Guam, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Oman, Pacific

Oceania, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the UAE. Cambodia is looking forward to shaking up the standings in the “World Cup of Tennis”.