Tuesday, Jul 18, 2017

Dubai: The UAE tennis coach promised that the squad will be using their day off on Wednesday to mount a fresh challenge of keeping their hopes alive to retain their Group III position during their ongoing Asia-Oceania Davis Cup encounter being played in Sri Lanka.

After the first two days, the UAE has lost both their matches (1-2 against Qatar and Lebanon, respectively), leaving themselves very little choice other than winning the rest of their encounters. Come Thursday, the UAE will play Malaysia and face Turkmenistan on Friday, knowing fully well that a slip in either tie could cost them a position of staying back in Group III for another year.

“Both the matches we have lost have been close ones, but we have been fighting it out with whatever we have with us,” coach Hichem Bramly told Gulf News from Colombo.

“Both Qatar and Lebanon were tough simply because they have much better Davis Cup experience than we do. But we have played as a unit and hopefully things will click for us in the next two matches and we can retain our Group III position,” he added.

The UAE has been pitted in Pool B along with Qatar, Lebanon, Malaysia and Turkmenistan for the round-robin stages being played at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association’s clay courts in Colombo. The top two teams will be promoted to Group II, while the last two teams will be relegated to Group IV for the 2018 season.

Bahroozian will be accompanied by Hamad Abbas Al Janahi — featuring in his first competition after serving a two-year ITF ban — Fahad Al Janahi and Abdul Rahman Al Janahi, while Faris Al Janahi will be part of the squad so as to get vital experience.

After the round-robin stages, the relegation play-offs will be held with the third-placed team from Pool A taking on the fifth-placed team from Pool B, and the fourth-placed teams from both pools fighting it out to decide which two nations slip back into Group IV for 2018.

On Tuesday against Lebanon, the UAE lost both the singles with young Abdul Rahman Al Janahi going down 1-6, 6-4, 4-6 against Najib Fakih and Omar Bahroozian losing 4-6, 5-7 against Hadi Habib. But the UAE took the doubles with Fahad Al Janahi and Hamad Abbas Al Janahi winning 6-3, 7-5 against Jad Ballout and Hadi Habib. “Our goal has always been to stay put in Group III and give the youngsters in our squad vital playing experience,” Bramly noted.

“There is no magic formula here. We need to stay in Group III and we still have another two matches to play against Malaysia and Turkmenistan. We will do everything possible to achieve our goal,” he insisted.

Staff Report

Gulf News 2017. All rights reserved.