Smarter Utility

 

[April 01, 2006]

UAE coach hopeful of advancing to Group III

(Gulf News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Dubai: The UAE coach is hopeful of a top-two finish and progress to Group III at the end of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV Davis Cup encounter in Amman, later this week.

"Qualifying to the next group has always been our objective every time we have gone for a Davis Cup encounter," Luis Reis, the UAE national team coach told Gulf News.

Possibly assisting the UAE cause this time may be the withdrawal of Kyrgyzstan and Brunei from the Group IV qualifiers starting at the Al Hussain Tennis Club in Amman from April 3-9.

That leaves Qatar and Tajikstan as the top two seeds among the cluster of remaining nine nations. The UAE has been seeded number three and Oman will be the fourth seed.

"That means we could be grouped with Qatar as they are the top seeds," Reis stated.

Qatar, who got relegated from Group III last year, was the only Gulf country which had not participated during the recent GCC Teams Tennis Championships.

"We are aware of the standard of teams in the region. We had won convincingly against both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and that should give us a lot of encouragement," Reis said.

Iraq, Jordan, Myanmar, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the UAE will be divided into two groups with the best two from each group advancing to the semifinals.

The best two of these will advance to Group III of the Davis Cup for next season. "The UAE has always been a strong Group III team, and we should have qualified last year itself," Reis said.

The UAE were all set for a promotion into the next group when Mahmoud Nader passed out on court with a heat stroke while leading against his rival from Bangladesh.

"We want to focus entirely on the task at hand and ensure we make the next grade this time," Reis added.

This time, the UAE have decided to send a couple of juniors with the seniors Omar Behroozian and Mahmoud Nader. The final round of qualifying to choose the two juniors will be held today.

"Omar has been the leader of the team for the past so many years, and we now need some juniors to step in. Either way, it's quite an exciting moment as we will have two new Davis Cup players," Reis said.

The team will leave for the Hashemite Kingdom tomorrow from the Dubai International Airport.

[ Back To Homepage ]