Tep Timothy picks

Playing smarter rather than harder, Tep Timothy (right) fashioned a 6-2,6-0 win over Klang Punlok to pick up his second boys under-14 singles title of the season at the end of the sixth and final national junior tennis tournament at the National Training Centre on Sunday. In the newly introduced ATP Masters-style eight-player round robin-knockout format, Timothy, the son of Tennis Cambodia secretary-general Tep Rithivit and grandson of legendary late Tep Khunnah, upheld his family’s traditions by dominating his rival from the off. As expected, Chheang Vannasak won the boys U18 singles event with ease, beating Chay Chen 6-0,6-0 in the final. In an exacting boys U12 final. Leng Sarinreach defeated his nemesis Cheum Seyha 6-4,4-6,6-2 to end the season on a high. After Seyha bounced back in the second set to drive the finish to a decider, it was a battle of will over strength and Sarinreach came out on top. Few in the U14 girls category can measure up to Hour Sreypov. She ended the year unbeaten with another impressive victory after working her way out of a rather sloppy start. Sreypov defeated Ho Sreynuch 5-3,4-1 after her first few services games were riddled with unforced errors and double faults. Once she found her usual rhythm, she was too good for her opponent. In the girls U18 final, Cheng Channeang got the better of her sparring partner Ith Leakhena 7-6,6-2. Only once this season has Leakhena turned the tables on her friend. Both are from Boeung Khyang Holy Babies Orphanage but have differing play styles, and it came to no one’s surprise that the more consistent of the two carried the day.

Lack of safrole

Four deaths in the United Kingdom last week may be the latest in a rash of fatalities linked to a hike in an adulterated version of party drug ecstasy, a trend experts say goes all the way back to the jungles of Cambodia. Rogue batches of synthetic MDMA-like substances have increasingly cropped up amid worldwide shortages of the common chemical precursor, safrole oil. The shortage is attributed to mass seizures of safrole in Cambodia from 2007 to 2009, when anti-drug officials attempted to eradicate clandestine production camps from protected forests. “Cambodia is one of the main sources for economical extraction of safrole for the production of MDMA. The big seizure [in 2008] did cause an MDMA drought in Western Europe, which suggests that other sources of safrole were not available in sufficient quantity,” said Harry Shapiro, director of communications at UK-based drug research centre Drugscope. Safrole oil, also known as sassafras oil, is distilled in Cambodia by boiling the roots and bark of a fragrant and rare tree known in Khmer as mreah prov mhnom. Manufacturing the oil involves felling several of the protected trees, which are found primarily in the Cardamom Mountain’s Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary in the western part of the country. Though small-scale production of safrole oil for traditional remedies has been going on for centuries in Cambodia, experts say large-scale and highly profitable safrole production began around 2000, when international demand for MDMA peaked, and shortly after neighbouring Vietnam issued a ban on making the substance in 1999. Production was ratcheted up further in 2004, soon after stricter controls were placed on the industry in China. In Cambodia, felling the trees and producing safrole became illegal in 2007, two years after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a crackdown on oil distilleries.

Olympic Stadium

The iconic Olympic Stadium football pitch will sport a trendy look once its original playing surface, which has lived through decades of historic events, makes way in the next few months for a spread of artificial grass. The work on the new playing arena began on November 15 and its deadline for completion has been set for May 15. Thailand-based company CC Grass has been entrusted with the work, estimated to cost around US$500,000. The funding comes from the world governing body FIFA’s Goal Project, which mainly helps member countries with financial support for infrastructure development. “The relaying of the pitch is hugely important for us. The existing turf was wearing out – maintenance was becoming difficult, especially during the rainy season. We made it a priority this year,” Football Federation of Cambodia spokesman May Tola told the Post. The Kingdom’s football year, meanwhile, kicks off on January 8 with the preliminary phase of the annual Samdech Hun Sen Cup spread across four centres – Phnom Penh, Takeo, Prey Veng and Kampong Thom. The capital, as usual, will host the second phase leading to the title round. The Metfone C-League season takes off on March 25 and all the scheduled matches, until the Olympic Stadium is fit for competition, will be played at the Old Stadium. Interestingly enough, last season’s two demotees, Kirivong Sok Sen Chey and Albirex Niigata, have worked their way back to the 2015 cycle after finishing top two in the three-team playoff held earlier this month. With an eye on the ensuing SEA Games in Singapore, the FFC has decided to give the national team at least one month of uninterrupted preparation. The Games will be held between June 5 and 20 next year but, as is tradition, the football competition starts much earlier than the official opening.

Pakistan tennis star

One of the world’s top-10 doubles players and Pakistan’s Davis Cup spearhead for nearly a decade Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi is among the six players going through their paces at a pre-season camp being directed by veteran American coach Robert Davis being held in both Phnom Penh and Kep. The coastal town of Kep has been a home away from home for Davis, who also plays an ambassadorial role for Tennis Cambodia. But for his trainee of 10 years Qureshi, who took Pakistan to the World Group playoffs in 2005 and is the only player from that country to figure in a Grand Slam final, this is his first visit to Cambodia after missing out on several previous occasions. “Working with Robert for so long, I’ve been meaning to come to the training camp here in Cambodia for the past couple of years but it just never worked out with my schedule,” said Qureshi after the first phase of the camp, which began on Christmas Day, and ended at the Sofitel Hotel courts in Phnom Penh on Sunday. “I’m glad it finally did work out because I’m in love with the country, and hopefully in the future I’ll be able to come back once more,” he added. Qureshi hit the road for Kep yesterday with the five others – Gong Mao-Xin of China, Toshihide Matsui of Japan, Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia, Bun Kenny of Cambodia and Singapore’s WTA circuit regular Sarah Pang – to train there till January 2. Like Qureshi, Gong is a first-time visitor to Cambodia. He is a regular doubles player for the Chinese Davis Cup squad. In 2011, he hit a career high ranking of 294 in singles and is currently ranked 139 in doubles. Matsui, who made it to the final of the third leg of the GLF Tep Khunnah Open earlier this month, represents the main sponsors of the Cambodian Futures series GL Finance. With Davis as his personal coach, the Osaka-born player plans to train more often in Cambodia and continues to be as zestful as ever despite being in his mid 30s. Ranked as high as 241, Christopher Rungkat is no stranger to Cambodia having played many Futures events in Phnom Penh and trained with the Kingdom’s national team on numerous occasions. He was star of the Indonesian triumph when the country hosted the SEA Games in 2011, picking up four gold medals.

first Mekong River

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, in coordination with several ministries and government agencies, will organise the Kingdom’s first Mekong River Festival from March 13 to 15 next year in Kratie provincial town, located on the east bank of Asia’s seventh longest river. Covering an estimated distance of 4,350km and originating in the Tibetan Plateau, the Mekong flows through China’s Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, eventually merging into the sea in Vietnam. “This trans-boundary river is a sustainable lifeline for thousands in Cambodia and the three-day festival is to raise awareness among the people to keep it pollution free and more importantly protect the Irrawaddy dolphin population which has made the province its home,” said NOCC secretary general Vath Chamroeun. “Cambodia as a member of the Mekong River Commission plays an important role in this co-operative network and this is a celebratory event just like our Sea Festival. “It is quite rare to find dolphins in a river and we are fortunate to have them in hundreds here. So dolphin preservation is also one of the main themes of this festival,” added the secretary. While the focus during the festival will be on highlighting Mekong as a great source of sustainable life and the role it has played over centuries in shaping the lives of people living along its path, the fun element will include a range of sporting activities. Traditional boat racing is likely to be the main attraction but Kratie’s famed sandbars will also be utilised for several games such as volleyball and wrestling. Visitors to the festival can enjoy the sights and sounds of the Irrawaddy dolphins in great numbers at the Kompi fisherman village, which is located 15km from Kratie town.