Oman enter quarters in junior Davis Cup pre-qualifier

MUSCAT: Oman have reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 Asia and Oceania Junior Davis Cup pre-qualifying tournament in Sri Lanka on Thursday.

The Oman boys under-16 team blanked Maldives 3-0 at the Sri Lankan Tennis Association (SLTA) clay courts in Colombo.

In the first singles, Oman’s Issa al Sulaimani defeated Maldives’ Rodak Mamoon 7-6, 6-4.

Ali al Busaidi gave Oman a 2-0 lead when he beat Mohammed Shahid 6-1, 6-3.

In the doubles, Issa al Sulaimani and Taha al Wahaibi ended the challenge of Maldives pair of Muhammad Shahid and Muhammad Rashid 6-2, 6-3 to wrap up the rubber 3-0.

Iran, Malaysia, Singapore, Guam, Vietnam, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are other teams who have entered the last-eight stage of the tournament.

Oman will take on Vietnam in the quarterfinal.

Oman coach Sufian Dob said the Omani players have shown good standard.

“Our boys have performed well to reach the quarterfinal stage after claiming second place in Group D. We beat Nepal and Maldives and lost to Singapore in the first match.

“Oman players have overcome lot of difficulties to reach this stage. We will try our best performance against Vietnam,” Dob said.

The top two teams will qualify for the Davis Cup Under-16 competition.

Oman official Ahmed al Balushi also congratulated the boys and girls teams for their best efforts in Sri Lanka.

SARAH CONFIDENT

In the Billie Jean King Cup tournament, Oman lost their first two matches against Iraq and Uzbekistan.

The Omani girls were beaten 3-0 by Iraq and Uzbekistan.

Oman girls coach Sarah al Balushi said the inexperienced Omani girls have put up a good fight despite the defeats.

“This is a learning experience for the girls. We hope to come up with good performances and results in the immediate future,” the former Oman player said.

“Being an experienced player and now coach I believe our girls can achieve better goals in the future as tennis is a sport that needs players to play more international tournaments in order to gain more experience, and this is a great start for our junior girls team,” Sarah said.