Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Despite being placed in a tough group, hosts Oman are sounding confident of doing well in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group IV competition to be organised at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex from Monday.
When the draw of the 12-team competition was conducted at the Sundus Rotana Hotel on Sunday, Oman were drawn in Pool A along with higher ranked United Arab Emirates (UAE), Myanmar, Iraq, Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan.
Meanwhile, Singapore, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Tajikistan and Guam were placed in Pool B.
In the group stage, the round robin ties - which include two singles and a double match - will see the teams playing against each other once in the respective pools.
All matches will be played from 10.00 a.m. at the newly developed tennis courts of the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
After the completion of group stage matches, the winners of Pool A will play-off against the runners-up in Pool B and the winners of Pool B will play-off against the runners-up in Pool A to determine which two nations will be promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group III in 2019.
Oman confident
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Hosts Oman will start their campaign against Bangladesh on Monday. In the other Pool A ties of the inaugural day, the UAE will face off against Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar play Iraq.
In Pool B, Singapore will play Guam, Turkmenistan will play Tajikistan and Mongolia will play Bahrain.
Oman will be represented by Muneer Al Rawahi, Abdullah Al Barwani, Younis Al Rawahi and the nation’s most experienced Davis Cup player Mohammed Al Nabhani.
Meanwhile, Oman’s non-playing captain Siddique Al Hashmi said: “We are in a very tough group. There are teams which are ranked higher than we are and have a very good players.”
“Having said that we are very confident of doing well because of the right kind of preparations we had for this competition.”
“Our training camp in France has been very fruitful. Besides the rigorous training, our players also got an opportunity to play some tough matches against very strong players.
“Our players have emerged physically and mentally strong after the camp in France. They are ready for the competition.”
Pools
Pool A: UAE, Oman, Myanmar, Iraq, Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan.
Pool B: Singapore, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Guam.
Teams
Bahrain: Ali Dawani, ElyasAbdulnabi, HamadAbdulaal, Yusuf Qaed. Captain: EsamAbdulaal
Bangladesh: SreeAmol Roy, DipuLal, Ranjan Ram, Mohammed Rana. Captain: Rokon Uddin Ahmed
Guam: Daniel Llarenas, Christopher Cajigan, Jean Pierre Huynh, Mason Caldwell. Captain: Torgun Smith
Iraq: BarakatZainy, Adel Mustafa Al Saedi, Akram M. Abdalkarem Al Saady, Ali KhairiHashim Al Mayahi. Captain: Oday Ahmed Jahad
Kyrgyzstan: Evgeniy Babak, Kirill Kistanov, Georgy Kotlyarevsky, Temiirlanbk Sultanov. Captain: Georgy Kotlyarevsky
Mongolia: Ankhsaikhan Temuugei, Tamir Ankhbayar, Munkhbaatar Badrakh, Baatar Oyunbat. Captain: Gunsenkhorloo Nyamdelger
Myanmar: Zaw San Oo, Tin MyoWai, AungMyo Thant, AungKyawNaing. Captain: AungKyaw Naing
Oman:Muneer Al Rawahi, Abdullah Al Barwani, Younis Al Rawahi, Mohammed Al Nabhani. Captain: Siddique Al Hashmi
Singapore: Shaheed Alam, Roy Hobbs, Hao Yuan Ng, Yuan-Xiong Hui. Captain: Yuan XiongHui
Tajikistan: Firuz Mukhidinov, Azamat Mukhudinov, Shakhrom Umarov, Firdavs Odinaev. Captain: Abdurasul Mukhidinov
Turkmenistan: Isa Mammetgulyyev, Atlymyrat Gurbanov, Arslan Orashev, Hadzhymyrat Charyyev. Captain: Aleksandr Shleykin
UAE: Fahad Janahi, Omar Al Awadhi, Abdulrahman Al Janahi, Fares Al Janahi. Captain: Mahmoud Khalifa Al Blooshi.
