Davis Cup: Bahrain to take on Mongolia

Manama : Bahrain, ranked 117th in the world, are set to open its Davis Cup campaign today at 9.30am against Mongolia in Asia/Oceania Group IV on the clay courts at Al-Hussein Sport City in Jordanian capital Amman.

The Bahrain delegation is headed by Bahrain Tennis Federation board member director Mohammed Ali Salman, national coach, team captain and 64-match Davis Cup veteran Essam Abdul A’al and featuring players - Hassan Abdulnabi, Abdulkarim Abdulnabi, Yousif Qaed and Elyas Abdulnabi.

Bahrain, which first entered the Davis Cup in 1989 and have four times been in Group II of the regional zones, are complimented by its most experienced player of the squad in 27-year-old Hassan Abdulnabi with 24 ties played over seven seasons. 

He is followed by Yousif Qaed with 20 ties over five seasons and Abdulkarim Abdulnabi with 19 ties over five seasons, while 18-year-old Elyas Abdulnabi is awaiting his debut.

On arrival in Jordan, coach Abdul A’al said, “The players have been in an intensive training programme for three months and have played in a number of tournaments in Bahrain before and during Ramadan to raise technical and fitness levels and hope to progress and improve on last season’s performance.”