By Sports Reporter/Doha
Qatar men’s tennis team went down to Malaysia 0-3 in their opening match of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III, which began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday.
Qatar is seeded seventh in the competition, while Malaysia is seeded first. Eight teams have been split into two groups and matches are played in round-robin basis.
The winner of pool A will play against the runner-up of pool B and the runner up of pool A will play off against the winner of pool B to determine which two (2) nations will be promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group II in 2016. The two losing nations will be relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV in 2016.
The Qatari team had a camp in Malaysia since last 10 days to train for the championship.
The Qatari squad includes Jabur al-Motawa, Ali al-Sayegh, Jassim al-Zeyarah, Mousa Shanan, Mubarak Shanan, Abdullah Shanan and Mohammad al-Khanji in addition to the coaches Younis al-Aynawi, Greogrebanas, Luis Lobez, Alex Lashenko and Ibrahim al-Khelaifi, Deputy Head of the National Teams Committee and Head of Qatar’s delegation.
In the opening match, Malaysia’s Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam had little difficulty overcoming Jabur al-Motawa 6-2 6-1 to give hosts the lead.
In the second rubber, Mohd Assri Merzuki took on Mousa Shanan Zayed and it out turned out to be a very close one.
Things started poorly for Merzuki as Zayed took the opening set 6-1 but the Malaysian recovered quicky. Merzuki took close second set 7-5 before finishing off with a easy win in the third set 6-1 to seal victory in the tie.
Malaysia then completed the 3-0 whitewash, when Muhammad-Ashaari Bin Zainal-Abidin and Syed Mohd Ahil Syed Naguib combined to win the doubles 6-3 7-6(3) against Mubarak al-Harrasi and Ali al-Sayegh.
The Asia/Oceania Zone Group III features Cambodia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Syria, Vietnam and Qatar.
The state of Qatar began its participation in Davis Cup in 1992 and played in Asia/Oceania Zone Group II on three occasions.
The Qatari team qualified from the group IV to Group III last year.
Khalid al-Khelaifi, Board Member of the Qatar Tennis Federation and Head of National teams committee said Qatari team is excited to show their best at Davis Cup.
“We are confident that our young men are able to qualify to group II in 2016” said al-Khelaifi. “We depend on our new technical staff including the international player Younis al-Aynawi whose experience will motivate our players” added al-Khelaifi.
