Bangladesh has never been able to reach the quarter-finals in the Asian region of the World Junior Tennis Championship (U-14) qualifiers. This time, Bangladesh has broken that barrier and reached the semi-finals.
Bangladesh defeated Saudi Arabia for the first time in the 21-nation competition being held in Bahrain the day before yesterday and reached the top eight. Bangladesh also reached the semi-finals by defeating Hong Kong 2-0 in the quarter-finals today. Bangladesh's opponent in the semi-finals tomorrow is Hong Kong.
Claiming that Bangladesh has made history by reaching the quarter-finals, Tennis Federation General Secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed said last night, 'We have never been able to reach the quarter-finals in the World Junior qualifiers before. This is the first time we have reached it. Not only that, we have also reached the semi-finals. According to the competition bylaws, the top four teams will get tickets for the finals to be held in the Czech Republic from August 4 to 9. As such, we will be playing in the finals for the first time.’
Bangladesh started the tournament by defeating Nepal 3-0. Rakin Rahman defeated Nepal’s Rokeya 6-3, 6-1 and Kabya Gayen defeated Biswa Bishesh 6-3, 6-3. In the doubles, Kabya and Akash of Bangladesh defeated Nepal’s Biswa Bishesh and Rizal Khandani 6-1, 6-1 to win.
In the second match, Akash Hossain of Bangladesh lost to Saudi Arabia’s Hamza Al Mansoori 5-7, 0-6. Kabya Gayen defeated Saudi Arabia’s Sarooji Ahmed 6-7, 6-2, 3-6. In the doubles, Kabya Gayen and Akash Hossain defeated Saudi Arabia’s Sarooji Ahmed and Suhil Al Farooqui 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 to win the match 2-1.
714.115 SRY