Man About Town 17-09-2010

Friday, 17 September 2010 15:00 Peter Olszewski

Anyone for tennis?
We’re used to seeing unusual events staged at Angkor Wat, and now the temple will be graced with a tennis court – but only for a day.

An AstroTurf tennis court will be set up in front of Angkor Wat on September 28 by online service provider Ezecom in conjunction with the Tennis Federation Cambodia.

A move is afoot to resurrect Cambodia’s tennis legacy, which was lost during the Khmer Rouge era and has never since enjoyed the upper-class popularity tennis had in the Kingdom in the 1960s. The Ezecom promotion is part of this push.

The tennis court at Angkor Wat will, on the day, be the stage for Indian tennis great, Leander Paes, a Wimbledon title winner and former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He will demonstrate his prowess and conduct a workshop for junior federation members.

CNN will also be in town at the time filming a documentary, and the plan is to have footage of the tennis action at Angkor featured.

London photo showing
The NGO Anjali House, founded in 2006 by the Angkor Photography Festival Association, is about to build some serious brand recognition in London.

Some of the the Anjali House children’s photographs from last year’s festival workshops will be complementing the launch of a book at Asia House in London on September 30.

The evening will include readings from author Sue Guirney’s new book set in Cambodia, accompanied by projections of the children’s photography.

Anjali will be represented on the night by Mr Boris T Van, who will make a short presentation on the work of Anjali House.

Meanwhile, The Angkor Photo Festival coordinator Camille Plante undertook her annual migration from Paris on Monday, and is now ensconced in Siem Reap. As usual, the French dynamo is busily preparing for this year’s festival, which will run from November 20-27.

Blake is coming
Times have been set for Fragments, the bronze sculpture exhibition by the renowned artist Blake, next Thursday, September 23. Blake will give a talk at 6.30pm at the Hotel de La Paix’s Arts Lounge, and then another of the hotel’s famed receptions will kick off, lasting until 10pm.