Thailand’s domination of the ITF Juniors tennis tournament during the second week of action, which concluded yesterday at the National Tennis Center, was complete with Thantub Suksumrarn repeating his success in the boys singles, while compatriot Lanlana Tararudee claimed the girls title.
Taking to the court after his doubles triumph in the company of Natthayut Nithithananont, the winner of the first tournament, 16-year-old Suksumrarn turned in another pleasing performance to overcome hard-fighting South Korean Shin Jung-ho 7-5, 6-4 in the final.
It had been an outstanding two weeks for the promising Thai junior who has now pulled off the coveted double twice.
Hoping to follow up on her first week triumph, Korea’s Jeong Bo-young ran into trouble almost from the start as the free-hitting Tararudee shut out the contest with absoloute ease at 6-0, 6-2.
“It makes me so happy to have had 114 participants in both weeks. It’s the most we’ve ever had, and most of them happen to be returning players, which means they must have relished the experience. It is reaffirmation that players, parents and coaches have been happy with the way these events are conducted. That’s all I can ask of our organising committee,’’ Tennis Cambodia secretary-general Tep Rithivit said.
“We shifted our focus from the senior events like the ITF Futures to Junior development, and without the steadfast support of long time partners like ABA Bank and associate sponsors Pharmacie De La Gare, Tamasa Serviced Apar-tments and Cambodian
Country Club we could not have raised the profile of these junior circuit events.”
Meanwhile, national team members Bun Kenny and Long Samneang appeared in the TATP’s Singha Classic event in Bangkok as part of their preparation for next month’s Asia/Oceania Davis Cup Group III cycle to be played indoors in Hanoi Vietnam,
Both Cambodian players made it directly to the qualifying rounds, bypassing the pre-qualifiers.
While Kenny made it to the main draw and won the first round, he was eliminated in the second. Samneang failed to get past the qualifying stage.
“The most important aspect going into Davis Cup every year is the preparation, and good preparation for us means matchplay.
“With Bangkok being so close and having a vast field of capable players, it is logical that they take part in such events,” said Tennis Cambodia secretary-general Rithivit, who is also the Davis Cup team's non-playing captain who will lead the team in Hanoi as they seek promotion to Group II.
