Qatar Olympic Committee
The Qatari men's tennis team recorded a 2-1 victory over Iran on Friday in their third encounter at the 2019 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group III which is taking place in Singapore from June 26-29.
In the first singles match, Qatar's Mousa Shannan defeated Iran's Mahdi Souri 6-0 6-1 while his brother Mubarak Shannan edged past Iran's Shahin Khaledan 7-6 6-2.
In the doubles match, Qatar's Rayane Alami and Rashed Nawaf suffered a 6-2 6-3 defeat the hands of Mahdi Souri and Shahin Khaledan.
After the conclusion of the first round, Syrian led the Group (A) with three victories ahead of Qatar in the second place and Malaysia in the third place while Iran finished fourth.
On the other hand, Vietnam led Group (B) ahead of Sri Lanka in the second place then Kuwait in the third place while hosts Singapore occupied the fourth place, so Syria and Vietnam secured their spots in the 2020 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II while Qatar and Sri Lanka will fight for the third and final spot when they meet on Saturday.
The Qatari delegation is chaired 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.
Ahmed Al Obaidli, Head of Qatar's delegation to the event was delighted by the victory over Iran and securing the second place in Group (A).
“The Qatari performance lived up to our expectations in the three matches" he said.
“Qatar now has a great opportunity to qualify to 2020 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II after defeating Sri Lanka in today's match." He added.
Al Obaidli stressed that the Qatari players are confident that they can reach the goals of Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation under the leadership of Nasser bin Ghanim Al Khelaifi.
For his part, Qatar's Captain Sultan Khalfan said that the Qatari players are one step away from a great achievement which is qualifying to 2020 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II.
“The Qatari players deserved the qualification after the level they have shown during the previous three matches, but we are confident that we can reach our goal today." Khalfan Said.