Dinner will honor former Cambodian kickboxing champion Oumry Ban

Oumry Ban, a former Cambodian national kickboxing champion who three times escaped death in his homeland before coming to the U.S. as a refugee, will be celebrated for 25 years as a Khmer kickboxing instructor in Long Beach where he has operated the same small storefront gym. (Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)

7/7/12 - Sparring with Alphonso Collins, Oumry Ban, left, is a former Cambodian national kickboxing champion who three times escaped death in his homeland before coming to the U.S. as a refugee. He will be celebrated for 25 years as a Khmer kickboxing instructor in Long Beach where he has operated the same small storefront gym. A fighting legend in his homeland, Ban now passes on his skills and techniques to fighters of all ages interested in the ancient fighting art. (Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)

7/7/12 - Sparring with Alphonso Collins, Oumry Ban, left, is a former Cambodian national kickboxing champion. A fighting legend in his homeland, Ban now passes on his skills and techniques to fighters of all ages interested in the ancient fighting art. (Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)

07/07/2012By Greg Mellen Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

LONG BEACH - The smallest man in the room has the biggest heart.

Oumry Ban guides students through a series of punches, kicks, elbow and knee strikes in his tiny martial arts studio on Anaheim Street as he has for 25 years.

A former kickboxing champion in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, Ban is generously listed as 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds, but appears somewhere between that and his fighting weight of 110 pounds.

However, the 68-year-old's small frame and gentle disposition belie the fighter's heart that helped him survive the Cambodian genocide and a scary unprovoked attack here in the United States.

It is also the same spirit that has kept Ban going for 25 years at the same location at 223 W. Anaheim St.

Khmer kickboxer's attackers plead

Kickboxing instructor Oumry Ban is pictured at left in black shirt. He was the trainer for Ramya Hang, right front; Morong May, left back; and Pros You, right back. (File Photo)

05/08/2008
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

LONG BEACH - Three Cambodian residents of Long Beach pleaded no contest this week in the 2006 beating of a popular local kickboxing instructor.

Than Kim and Chan Um had been charged with felony assault with intent to cause great bodily injury for a Nov. 6 beating outside the Bamboo Island Restaurant on Anaheim Street that hospitalized Oumry Ban with a fractured jaw and multiple lacerations and contusions.

Rantha Sok was charged with assault without the bodily injury allegation.

Ban, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide and former kickboxing champion in his homeland, has operated a Khmer kickboxing studio on Anaheim Street near Pacific Avenue for more than 20 years and is a respected elder in the Long Beach Cambodian community.

Kim, who initially was to be tried on a third-strike offense, faced a sentence of 25-years to life. However, Judge James Pierce granted a Romero Motion by the defense, which allowed one of Kim's previous strikes to be dropped.

All three defendants pleaded no contest. Kim, 34, was sentenced to 13 years in state prison. He will be required to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence, or 11 years.

The office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has a hold on Kim, meaning he could face deportation to Cambodia once his prison term is completed.

Um was sentenced to five years and Sok was given two years in state prison.

The pleas were accepted over prosecution objections.

Deputy District Attorney Julian Rencana said he was ready to go to trial on all three and proceed with the third-strike case against Kim.

The case was filed in November 2006 and has faced numerous delays, the addition of Sok as a defendant and a replacement of attorneys by Kim before the sentences were announced on Tuesday.

According to pretrial testimony, Ban and a friend, Nan Meas, were having dinner at Bamboo Island when the melee occurred.

Ban says the altercation began when Kim approached and punched him in the face without provocation and Sok threw an object at him.

Gary Ung, then-owner of the restaurant, testified Ban said, "I have no idea why you hitting me."

Ban testified he only barely knew Kim and when he asked why he had been struck, Kim replied "go ask your bitchy wife."

Ban insists he doesn't know what that meant and is unaware of any relationship between his wife and the assailants.

According to Ban's testimony, Ung urged the group to take its dispute outside. Ban says when he went outside he was struck behind by a heavy object, possibly a tire iron. He remembers seeing a shoe coming toward his face and blacked out.

Ban was hospitalized for several days before returning to the gym where he still works.

Asked about the verdicts, Ban said "I agree with the court."

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291