Future tennis stars prepare for Singapore event

In a milestone year for Cambodian tennis which saw the national women’s team make a historic debut at the June SEA Games in Singapore, the city-state will once again be the focus of attention next week with two of the Kingdom’s best performed girls, Hour Sreypov and Ho Sreynoch, making their first appearances in the WTA Future Stars event.

Two juniors from each of the 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region will join four from the host city in an added attraction to the season-ending, multi-million dollar spectacle that is the WTA Finals, involving the top eight ranked players in the world.

Cambodia’s Davis Cupper and Head of Junior Development Phalkun Mam will accompany Hour Sreypov and Ho Sreynoch as their coach during the October 22 to 26 round robin tournament at the Kallang tennis center.

Singapore will host the WTA finals, the most lucrative and glamorous women’s event, for the next four years after the tournament was hosted in Asia for the first time last year.

Singapore also embraced the WTA Future Stars initiative to encourage emerging talent in the region through a series of community events featuring U14 and U16 tournaments in association with Sport Singapore & Singapore Tennis Association, showcasing the top junior female talent in the AsiaPacific (APAC) region.

“This is a big step forward for Tennis Cambodia. We were proud to see our national women’s team make a debut at the SEA Games earlier this year in Singapore. We hope women’s tennis will become just as prominent as the men’s side. Hopefully soon with the help of the WTA we can build the female players in the country and even enter the Fed cup, and build a team strong enough to bring us medals at the SEA Games in the future,” secretary general of Tennis Cambodia Tep Rithivit told the Post yesterday.

“This is a great opportunity for both Ho Sreynoch of Sunrise Children’s Villages, and Hour Sreypov of Holybabies orphanage in Boueng Khyang to not only gain international experience, but a perspective on what tennis has done and is doing for their lives,’’ noted coach Phalkun Mam, who has been putting the juniors through their paces for the last few weeks.

“Hopefully the other girls will look up to them as inspiration. Sreynoch has been out of the country, mainly Thailand a couple of times, but for Hour Sreypov, who has remained unbeaten in national competitions for two years, it will be her first trip out of Cambodia and I am certain this experience will benefit both of them to a great extent,” said Phalkun Mam.

 sourced:phnompenhpost.com