Lawn Tennis Chief Vows to Open Four Academies

The former national tennis playerwon 51 votes from the 58 club representatives present at the Extraordinary General Assembly meeting. He was the only candidate nominated by club representatives; former tennis chief Suwat Liptapanlop failed to win nomination.

The re-election was conducted at the suggestion of a civil court as a reconciliation move between Kitsombat's administration and the old power clique following allegations that the General Assembly election in January was rigged. Kitsombat had won that election, deefating Suwat 35-19.

"The representatives who attended the meeting today were the same people who turned up in January. This proved that the elections were carried out in a transparent way. It's time to move on and focus on the work ahead," said the 56-year-old Kitsombat, a former national champion.

Having cleared the air of mistrust, Kitsombat said he will go ahead with his plans of opening tennis academies in the four regions of the country and popularise the game.

"Thai tennis has been on the downturn for the past eight years. My goal is to encourage more Thai children to pick up racquets and head to tennis courts," he said.

Back in 2002, tennis was among the country's booming sports due to the exploits of Paradorn Srichaphan, the country's most succcessful professional player, who reached No 9 in the world and won five ATP titles. After the tenis hero picked up injuries and fianlly retired in 2010, Thais switched their attention to other sports like volleyball and badminton.

Kitsombat promised that he will make efforts to produce tennis icons asuch as Paradorn and Tamarine Tanasugarn, the highly-profiled former WTA player who won four career titles.

"We have seevral talented players at ages 14 and under, who with proper guidance and instruction should make a carrer out of tennis. It won't take us long to unearth new stars," he said.