Lebanon forge ahead

No. 3 Sri Lanka lose to No. 8 Oman 2-1:

Richard DWIGHT

TENNIS: Though the skies were overcast to be gloomy for the opening ceremony last morning of the Asia-Oceanic Division III Davis Cup tournament at the National Tennis Centre at Green Park.

It did however brighten up to lift the spirits of the players, all of whom come from climes that are tropical.

They did move on to honour their scheduled round of matches on day one, with the sole motivating factor being that the first two teams, would be at the end of this tournament be promoted from Division III to Division II.

The matches on day one in Group ‘A’ was between Lebanon and Singapore, Saudi Arabia and UAE and in the Group ‘B’ the clashes were between Vietnam and Malaysia and, Sri Lanka versus Oman. The matches were confined to two straight singles and a doubles match.

Much interest was centred around the home team Sri Lanka, the third seed, taking on the eight seed Oman. In the opening singles between Oman’s Mohammed Al Nabbhani the No. 2 and Sri Lanka’s No. 2 Renuk Wijemanne, was from a Sri Lankan point of view a disappointment.

Much was expected from Renuk with his experience as coach and player from California, but he failed to impress to lose two sets.

There were moments when Renuk sparkled with sheer brilliance, when he did dominate the long drawn out rallies, but it was not well sustained and did lack the finish which mattered.

His strongly built opponent, Alnabhani was more composed and with his fine driving and placements, with effortless ease got the better of Renuk to win easily.

Amends for the first loss by Renuk in the first singles was made by Sri Lanka’s No. 1 Harshana Godamanna, when he brushed aside the opposition from Oman’s No. 1 Khalid Alnabhani when he dominated the court with his power packed service and deft returns to make short work of the match and win easily.

The success achieved by Sri Lanka was short lived for in the deciding doubles match, the combination of Harshana Godamanna and Rajeev Rajapakse lost to Oman’s pair of Khalid Al Nabhani and Muhammed Al Nabhani to lose the tie 2-1.

The Lebanon squad appeared to be formidable in making a clear sweep of Singapore winning all three matches.

Results Group ‘A’,

Lebanon Vs Singapore

Singles - Karim Alayli (Leb) bt. Min Sylvester Wee (Sin) Bassam Beidas (Leb) bt. Chee Leong (Sin) 6/0, 6/2, 6/3.

Doubles - Bassam Beidas/Patrick Chucri (Leb) bt. Daniel Heryanta/Min Sylvester Wee (Sin) 6/1, 6/2.

Lebanon won 3-0.

Saudi Arabia Vs UAE

Singles - Mahamoud Nadar Al Baloushi (UAE) bt. Omar Al Thagib (SA) 6/2, 1/6, 6/8.

Omar Bahrouzyan (UAE) bt. Fahad Al Saad (SA) 7/6, 6/3, 6/4.

Doubles Saleh Al Rajeeh/Fahad Al Saad (SA) bt. Omar Bahrouzyan/M.N.A.L Baloushi (UAE) 6/2, 6/1.

UAE won 2-0.

Group ‘B’ Sri Lanka Vs Oman

Singles - Muhammed Al Nabhani (Om) bt. Renouk Wijemanne (SL) 6/2, 6/3.

Harshana Godamanna (SL) bt. Khalid Al Nabhani (OM) 6/1, 6/3.

Doubles - Khalid Al Nabhani/ Muhammed Al Nabhani (OM) bt. Harshana Godamanna/Rajeev Rajapakse (SL) 6/3, 6/4.

Oman won 2-1

Vietnam Vs Malaysia

Singles - Minh Quan Do (VIET) bt. Qi Hao Tan (MAL) 6/1, 6/4 Yew Ming Si (MAL) bt Quang Huy Ngo (VIET) 6/2, 3/6, 6/2.

Doubles - Minh Quan Do/Quoo Khanh Lee (VIET) bt. Selvam Weerasingham (SL)/Yew Ming (MAL) 6/3, 6/4.

Vietnam won 2-1