Bahrain defeat Iraq

Manama : Bahrain’s national team ranked 117th in the world comfortably defeated Iraq 3-0 ranked 116th yesterday in third Davis Cup match of the campaign in Pool B of Asia/Oceania Group IV on the clay courts at the Al-Hussein Sport City in Amman.

The emphatic victory kept Bahrain on course for a top two place in the pool and a shot at winning promotion on Saturday to Group III in the knockout phase. 

In the opening singles rubber, Bahrain’s 29-year old  Abdulkarim Abdulnabi easily beat Ali Khairi Hashim Al Mayahi 6-2, 6-2 in around 70 minutes and victory for the Gulf nation was ensured in the second singles rubber with 27-year old Hassan Abdulnabi getting the better of Akram M Abdelkarem Al Saady 6-0, 7-5 in nearly an hour and a half despite a tough second set.

Bahrain made it a cleansweep as Abdulkarim and Hassan Abdulnabi combined for the doubles rubber to defeat Ali Suwaed and Barakat Zainy 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets. 

The other Bahraini squad members are 21-year old Yousif Qaed and 18-year old Elyas Abdulnabi.

In the other Pool B match played yesterday, unranked Tajikistan beat 121st ranked Mongalia 3-0 as the latter finished its campaign with four losses from as many matches.

Standings (played-won-lost-for-against): 

Pool A: 1 UAE (2-2-0-6-0), 2 Saudi Arabia (2-1-1-3-3), 3 Myanmar (2-1-1-2-4), 4 Oman (2-0-2-1-5). 

Pool B: 1 Jordan (3-3-0-9-0), 2 Bahrain (3-2-1-5-4), 3 Iraq (3-2-1-4-5), 4 Tajikistan (3-1-2-4-5), 5 Mongolia (4-0-4-2-10).

Today’s schedule (9.30am): Pool A: UAE vs Saudi Arabia. Myanmar vs Oman. Pool B: Bahrain vs Tajikistan. Jordan vs Iraq.