Bahrain’s hope dashed
Manama : Bahrain ranked 107 in the world saw its hopes of promotion dashed yesterday when they went down 3-0 to Cambodia despite a spirited response yesterday with a third successive defeat on the third day of action 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.
For Cambodia ranked 101, this was its third win on the trot as Samneang Long defeated Hassan Abdulnabi In the opening singles rubber 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 in an epic match lasting two hours and 27 minutes.
The second singles rubber saw Cambodia seal the tie as Kenny Bun easily outplayed Yousif Qaed in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.
In doubles action, the pairing of Cambodia’s Phalkun Mam and Sarith Our had to play hard to beat Bahrain’s Abdulkarim Abdulnabi and Elyas Abdulnabi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
In the other match Pool A match, Saudi Arabia (111) enjoyed a 3-0 victory against Kyrgyzstan (124) with Faisal Rebdi winning the first rubber 6-1, 6-3 against Denis Surotin, then followed up with a second win after Ammar Al Haqbani fought hard to beat Evgeniy Babak 6-2, 4-4, 6-4 in the second rubber.
The doubles rubber saw Fahad Al Saad and Saud Al Haqbani comfortably win 6-3, 6-1 against Denis Surotin and Farhad Urumbaev for a cleansweep victory for the Saudi Arabians.
In Pool B action, Oman (122) maintained a perfect with a 3-0 win over Iraq (106), while Mongolia (126) was a 2-1 winner over Tajikistan (123) to maintain its three-win no loss record and Singapore was a 3-0 winner over Bangladesh.
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 on Saturday.
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.
Standings (win-loss):
Pool A:
1 Cambodia (3-0),
2 Saudi Arabia (2-0),
3 Myanmar (1-1),
4 Kyrgyzstan (0-2),
5 Bahrain (0-3).
Pool B:
1 Oman (3-0),
2 Mongolia (3-0),
Singapore (2-1),
4 Iraq (1-2),
5 Tajikistan (0-3),
6 Bangladesh (0-3).
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