Sports Desk:

Bangladesh’s men’s tennis team finished 12th on Saturday in Bahrain, where they competed in the Asia and Oceania Group 5 section of the Davis Cup in a week that exposed both on-court shortcomings and off-court frustrations.

The squad returned home on Sunday, at which point the Bangladesh Tennis Federation released the tournament results. The information arrived later than expected, given that match results are typically shared day by day. This time the federation issued all results together after the team’s return, providing no images and further highlighting concerns about how the sport is promoted.

The Davis Cup remains a significant competition for Bangladeshi tennis, yet the federation’s communication has felt increasingly inconsistent. Media were not informed about the recent participation of the national team in the Asian Table Tennis Championship, nor about the team’s results or return.

The Davis Cup was held from 17 to 23 November, with national teams from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Laos, Guam, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Northern Mariana Islands, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen competing. The teams were placed into four groups, and Bangladesh were drawn in Group C alongside Turkmenistan, Bahrain and Brunei.

Bangladesh opened the group stage with a 3–0 defeat to hosts Bahrain. Zarif Abrar lost the first singles rubber 2–6, 2–6 to Ilyas Abdulaziz, while Jubin Omar fell 6–1, 3–6, 6–7 to Yusuf Kuwader. In doubles, Imon and Rustam Ali were beaten 2–6, 4–6 by Hasan Abdulnabi and Ahmed Alsaeed.

The second day brought another 3–0 loss, this time to Turkmenistan. Abrar was beaten 6–4, 3–6, 1–6 by Selim Shayalov, Omar lost 4–6, 6–4, 6–7 to Alanur Dayanjov and the Abrar and Tanvir Pasha pairing fell 1–6, 2–6 to Melis Orazmukhammedov and Yuri Rogski.

Bangladesh responded strongly on day three, defeating Brunei 3–0 to finish third in the group. Tanvir Pasha edged Javin Yong Kok Lim 6–3, 2–6, 7–6, Rustam Ali beat Aiman Abdullah 4–6, 6–4, 7–5 and the doubles team of Abrar and Imon eased to a 6–0, 6–1 win over Aiyan Chok and Ahmad Sulaiman.

That set up an 11th to 12th place playoff against Myanmar, where Bangladesh fell 2–0. Imon lost 3–6, 2–6 to Phi Sar Sei and Abrar was beaten 1–6, 6–4, 5–7 by Dah Oo.

Bangladesh had prepared with a months-long training camp and expectations had been higher. Federation general secretary Estiaque Ahmed Karen acknowledged the disappointment, saying the team should have performed better given their preparation, adding that the draw placed them in a difficult group, which ultimately shaped the outcome.