Umm an Nasan Island clinch title

Manama : Umm an Nasan Island duo of Abdul Rahman Janahi and Aziz Janahi defeated the Halat Nuaim Island duo of Khalid Janahi and Rico Cifra in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 last night in the final of the RJ Investments Holding Group Team Doubles Tennis Tournament 2017 at the Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair.

The final and the tournament was held under the patronage and chairman of the group, Rashad Janahi.

In the opening set, both teams gave little away as the first eight games went with serve with the score at 4-4.

K Janahi and Cifra looked to have got the upperhand in the ninth game after coming from 30-40 down to break the Janahi duo for a 5-4 lead.

The Janahi’s then won back a break to tie the set at 5-5, held serve in the next game and after racing into a 40-0 lead wrapped the game and set up.

In the second set, things started with both pairs winning their opening service games, then the next five games were breaks of service as Janahi and Cifra held a 4-3 advantage and won the next game for a 5-3 lead.

Incredibly the Janahi’s clawed back winning the next three games thanks to a break of service and holding their own games for a 6-5 lead.

In a tough final game, the Janahi’s went 30-0 up only to trail 30-40 before effecting deuce and then finding Janahi and Cifra with advantage to save the set which then went to deuce again and the Janahi’s made no mistake with advantage to wrap the set up and clinch the title.

Unlike all the previous matches in the group round-robin and knockout stage, which comprised three rubbers (if needed) with the winner being the first to win two rubbers starting with match one and two decided by the first to win nine games, with a three-setter to decide the third match (if necessary), the final was a one-off three-set match to decide the title.

The championship featured 15 teams named after Bahrain’s islands split into three groups of five teams playing on a round-robin basis with the three group winners and best runner-up qualifying for the semi-final line-up.

After the final concluded, a closing ceremony was held and trophies and awards were handed out to the two finalists and the losing semi-finalists and was attended by Rashad Janahi Chairman of RJ Investments Holding, Khamis Al Muqla, President of BTC, Dr Faisal Al Mosawi, BTC Member and Dr Khalil bin Ebrahim Hassan, Bahrain’s Ambassodor to Japan.