Bahrain go down fighting to Myanmar

Manama : Bahrain ranked 107th were downed 2-1 yesterday by Myanmar (120) on the second and windy day of matches in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Davis Cup matches in Pool A of the Asia/Oceania Group IV on the hard courts of the Bahrain Tennis Federation Courts at the Bahrain Polytechnic in Isa Town.

In the opening singles rubber, Myanmar’s Tin Myo Wai defeated Bahrain’s Elyas Abdulnabi 6-2, 7-5.

However, Bahrain levelled in the second singles rubber with Hassan Abdulnabi cruising to a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory against Aung Kyaw Naing 6-2, 6-3.

In the deciding doubles match, Myanmar duo of Aung Kyaw Naing and Phyo Min Thar edged out Bahrain’s Abdulkarim and Hassan Abdulnabi after coming from a set down to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In the other match Pool A match, Cambodia (101) won 2-1 against Kyrgyzstan (124) after a good start thanks to Mam Phalkum, winning the opening singles rubber 6-2,6-1 against Farhad Urumbaev, but Kyrgzystan through Evgeniy Babak defeated Cambodia’s Our Sarith in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 in the second singles rubber.

The tie was decided when doubles partners for Cambodia’s Bun Kenny and Mam Phalkum came from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 against Evgeniy Babak and Denis Surotin.

In Pool B action, Oman (122) beat Singapore (107) 2-1, Mongolia (126) defeated Bangladesh (112) 2-1 and Iraq (106) were 2-1 winners over Tajikistan (123).

11 teams are playing round-robin in their respective groups with the promotion places decided by the winners of a play-off match between the Pool A winners and Pool B runners-up and the Pool B winners against Pool A runners-up to Group III for the 2018 edition of the Davis Cup.

Bahrain’s team are coached by its non-playing captain and 64-match Davis Cup veteran Essam Abdul A’al and comprises Yousif Qaed, Hassan Abdulnabi, Abdulkarim Abdulnabi and Elyas
Abdulnabi.

Bahrain first entered the Davis Cup in 1989 and have four times been in Group II of the regional zones.

Today schedule (10pm): 

Pool A: 

Bahrain vs Cambodia, 

Saudi Arabia vs Kyrgystan. 

Pool B: 

Iraq vs Oman, 

Singapore vs Bangladesh, 

Tajikistan vs Mongolia.