Bahrain miss out from Davis Cup

Manama : Bahrain missed out on promotion as they lost 3-0 to the UAE in a promotion play-off yesterday as the Davis Cup campaign in Asia/Oceania Group IV concluded on the clay courts of the Al-Hussein Sport City in Amman.

Hosts Jordan join UAE after they game from behind to defeat 120th ranked Oman in the other promotion play-off with a 2-1 win.

In the opening singles rubber, UAE’s Fahad Al Janahi had an easy 6-0, 6-3 victory over Bahrain’s Abdulkarim Abdulnabi in 54 minutes. UAE secured its promotion when in the second singles rubber, Omar Alawadhi was a 6-0, 7-5 winner over Hassan Abdulnabi in 55 minutes.

UAE made it a perfect win in the doubles contest as Abdulrahman Al Janahi and Omar Alawadhi overcame the Bahraini duo of Yousif Qaed and Elyas Abdulnabi 6-4, 6-3 in 70 minutes.

Bahrain’s delegation was headed by Bahrain Tennis Federation board member director Mohammed Ali Salman along with national coach, team captain and former veteran Davis Cup player Essam Abdul A’al supervising the team.

Bahrain first entered the Davis Cup in 1989 and have four times been in Group II of the Asia/Oceania regional zone in previous campaigns.

Jordan won its promotion despite losing the opening singles rubber when Oman’s Mohammed Al Nabhani beat Seif Adas 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

In the second singles rubber, Jordan’s Mousa Alkotop was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Abdulla Barwani to level the match. In the doubles. Hamzeh Al Aswad and Mousa Alkotop beat Abdulla Al Barwani and Mohammed Al Nabhani 6-2, 6-2 to complete the Jordanian victory.

In the fifth and sixth play-off, Iraq defeated Saudi Arabia 3-0 and Myanmar were 2-1 winners over Tajikistan in the seventh and eighth play-off with Mongolia classified ninth.