Mousa and Mubarak star in Qatar’s win over Malaysia

Qatar’s Davis Cup team made a winning start to their Asia/Oceania Group III campaign, beating Malaysia 2-1 in their Pool B round robin tie in Singapore yesterday.Mousa Shanan Zayed won the opening singles rubber as he beat Christian Chin 7-5, 6-2 at the indoor courts of OCBC Arena.His younger brother Mubarak Shanan Zayid later overcame Shamirul Shahril Mohamed 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.The doubles match, however, saw Rayane Alami and Mousa Zayed go down to Christian Didier Chin and Syed Mohamed Agil 6-0, 2-6, 6-2.Qatar will now take on Syria (who beat Iran 3-0) today in the second round robin tie. Eight countries are currently involved in Singapore in the Asia/Oceania Group III 2019 tournament. These include Vietnam, Kuwait and Sri Lanka, apart from hosts Singapore in Pool A, with Iran, Qatar, Syria and Malaysia facing off in Pool B.After three days of round robin competitions, the winners of both pools will play off against one another, with second playing second, third playing third and fourth playing fourth to establish the final standings.Three nations would be promoted to Group II according to Davis Cup regulations depending on the size of the group.Qatar, who made their Davis Cup debut in 1992, have played in the Asia/Oceania Group II three times. On Tuesday, the ambassador of the State of Qatar to Singapore Abdullah bin Ibrahim al-Hamar held a dinner banquet in honour of the Qatar tennis delegation.On this occasion, al-Hamar stressed that importance of the tournament which features the participation of our tennis national team. He also hailed the sporting boom in Qatar under the leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, where many accomplishments were achieved in all fields, the last of which was the successful participation of the first football team in the 2019 Copa America. Al-Hamar added that tennis became a popular sport in Qatar because the Qatar Tennis Federation Qatar hosts a huge number of international tennis events, including the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar Total Open which attracts the world’s tennis stars. The head of Qatar’s delegation to the event, Ahmed al-Obaidli ,thanked al-Hamar for his support to the Qatari national team. ResultsAsia/Oceania Group III: Qatar 2-Malaysia 1 (Mousa Shanan Zayed bt Christian Chin 7-5, 6-2; Mubarak Shanan Zayid bt Shamirul Shahril Mohamed 7-5, 5-7, 6-1; Christian Didier Chin & Syed Mohd Agil bt Rayane Alami & Mousa Shanan Zayed 6-0, 2-6, 6-2).