Singapore: The Qatari men’s tennis team suffered a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Syrian team in their second encounter at the 2019 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III in Singapore.
In the first singles match, Qatar’s Mousa Shannan went down fighting against Yacoub Makzoume 6-1, 4-6, 0-6 while in the second match, Qatar’s Mubarak Shannan lost to Syria’s No. 1 Kareem Al Allaf 6-3, 6-1.
In the doubles match, Qatar’s Rashed Nawaf and Mousa Shannan lost to Kareem Al Allaf and Majdi Salim.
The Syrian team was leading group (A) at the end of Thursday’s matches with two victories ahead of Qatar, followed by Malaysia while Iran occupying the last spot in this group.
Qatar were pooled in group A alongside Iran, Syria, and Malaysia while Group B includes Vietnam, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and hosts Singapore.
The Qatari delegation is led by Ahmed Sultan Al Obaidly and includes Mousa Shanan, Mubarak Shanan, Rayyan Alami, Rashed Nawaf and the team captain Sultan Khalfan in addition to the head coach Oliver Gross, fitness coach Luis Lobez and physiotherapist Alex.
As per the new format of the tournament, the winners of each group will secure their places in the 2020 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II while the runners up of each group will fight for the third spot in Group II.
Ahmed Al Obaidli, Head of Qatar’s delegation to the event hailed the Qatari performance against Syria despite of the defeat.
“Today’s match against Iran will not be easy as the two teams will try to win it and secure the second place in group A” said Al Obaidli.
“I’m confident that the players can win today’s match and secure their sport in the upcoming round” he added.
Following his defeat against Makzoume, Qatar’s Shannan said the team still have the opportunity to qualify to the second round but they have first to defeat Iran on the third day of the event.
