Bahrain advance

Manama : Bahrain’s national team clinched a place in yesterday’s promotion play-off following a 2-1 defeat of unranked Tajikistan in its fourth and final 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 victory came about as doubles Abdulkarim, 27-year-old and Hassan Abdul Nabi, 29-year-old came from a set down to defeat the Tajik pair of Anvar Rakhmatov and Mirkhusein Yakhyaev 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a rubber lasting an hour and three quarters.

The first set was keenly fought and won by the Tajiks edging out the Bahrainis thanks to a break of serve with the score at 4-4.

In the second set, Abdulkarim and Hassan won a break at 6-5 to level the match and then won a decisive break at 5-4 in the third set to clinch and a shot at promotion against Pool A winners UAE.

In the opening singles rubber, Abdulkarim Abdulnabi beat Mirkhusein Yakhyaev 7-6(5), 6-0 as he got Bahrain off to a flying start even though he needed to work hard to overcome Mirkhusein Yakhyaev in a tie-break first set before easily taking the second set without dropping a game lasting around 70 minutes.

The second singles rubber was the complete opposite to the first for the Bahrainis, as Hassan Abdulnabi lost in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 to Anvar Rakhmatov despite some resistance in the second set, which also lasted around 70 minutes. 

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

In the other Pool B match, hosts Jordan ranked 106th easily beat Iraq ranked 116th 3-0, making it four wins to top the Pool and take on Oman in today’s promotion play-off.

In Pool A action, UAE brushed aside Saudi Arabia 3-0 to finish top with three wins from three, while Oman were 2-1 winners over Myanmar.

Pool A finished in dramatic style as Oman, Saudi Arabia and Myanmar all finished with identical records with one win and two losses and three sets won and six lost.

Final standings (played-won-lost-for-against): 

Pool A: 1) UAE (3-3-0-9-0), 2) Oman (2-1-2-3-6), 3) Saudi Arabia (2-1-2-3-6), 4) Myanmar (2-1-2-3-6). 

Pool B: 1) Jordan (4-4-0-12-0), 2) Bahrain (4-3-1-7-5), 3) Iraq (4-2-2-4-8), 4) Tajikistan (4-1-3-5-7), 5) Mongolia (4-0-4-2-10).