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How tennis survived the Khmer Rouge

(CNN) -- The brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge during the 1970s brought Cambodia to its knees. Pol Pot and his cadres persecuted anything they regarded as middle-class or intellectual -- from pop musicians to tennis players.

Former tennis coach turned journalist Robert Davis told CNN of the extremes to which the Khmer Rouge were willing to go.

"When the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh and Cambodia, anyone who was elite or academic was exterminated," said Davis.

As a child, Tep Rithivit learned tennis with his father at Le Cercle Sportif club, which now houses the U.S. embassy. His father was captain of the national tennis team. When the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh in 1975, the family fled into exile....
Read entire article at CNN.com