Iran, Hong Kong dominate

Manama : Bahrain women’s tennis team lost 3-0 to 77th ranked Iran yesterday in its second ever match in the ITF Federation Cup in Pool A Asia/Oceania Zone Group 2 on the hard outdoor courts at the True Arena Hua Hin venue in Thailand.

In the opening singles rubber, 15-year old Bahraini Nazli Nader Redha lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 to Iran’s Sadaf Sadeghvaziri who is almost two years older. Next up in the singles was the turn of Maram Mohammed Sharif who won’t be 15 until July and she managed to win Bahrain’s first-ever game in the Federation Cup despite going down 6-0, 6-1 to Sara Amiri who is more than four years older than her opponent.

The final doubles rubber saw 19-year old Mala Jassim Fardan team up with Sharif but could not prevent the Iranian pairing of Sadeghvaziri and Amiri winning 6-0, 6-0.

On Tuesday, Bahrain made GCC Women’s tennis history as they debuted against 61st ranked Hong Kong but went down 3-0.

In the opening singles rubber, Hong Kong’s Ho Ching Wu outplayed Bahrain’s Fardan 6-0, 6-0, world ranked 293 Zhang Ling made it 2-0 for Hong Kong following her 6-0, 6-0 win over Redha and Hong Kong finished with Man Ying Maggie Ng and Chun-Wing Sher also winning 6-0, 6-0 in the doubles against Redha and Sharif.

The Bahrain team are accompanied by captain/coach and former Davis Cup player Essam Abdul A’al and are set to take on Pacific Oceania ranked 74 today and top seeds Philippines ranked 48 tomorrow.

In the other group match, Philippines beat Pacific Oceania 2-1 after the latter had beaten Iran 3-0 the previous day.

Results: Pool B: Singapore bt Indonesia 2-1, Pakistan bt Kyrgyzstan 3-0, Malaysia bt Sri Lanka 3-0. Indonesia bt Kyrgyzstan 3-0, Singapore bt Sri Lanka 2-1, Malaysia bt Pakistan 3-0.

Today’s schedule: Pool A: Bahrain vs Pacific Oceania, Philippines vs Hong Kong. Pool B: Malaysia vs Singapore, Indonesia vs Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan vs Sri Lanka.