Hosts blank Turkmenistan

Bangladesh's Shibu Lal executes a backhand slice against Jamshid Ilmuradov (not in picture) of Turkmenistan during their Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group-IV match at Ramna yesterday.Photo: STAR

Bangladesh maintained their winning run in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV competition with a comfortable 3-0 win over Turkmenistan yesterday.
Although Bangladesh lost the doubles match in the opening round of Group B to Jordan, the local boys won both the singles and the doubles match in the second round at the National Tennis Complex in Ramna.
Shibu Lal gave Bangladesh a flying start beating Jamshidov Ilmuradov 6-1, 6-1 before Amol Roy ensured an unassailable 2-0 lead defeating Eziz Davletov.
In the afternoon, Shibu paired with Ranjan Ram to give Bangladesh their first doubles victory of the competition with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Central Asian duo Davletov and Bahtiyar Atabaev.
Jordan edged Myanmar 2-1 in Group B while United Arab Emirates defeated Bahrain by the same margin in Group A.
Bangladesh will rest while Bahrain play Yemen, UAE meet Iraq, Qatar face Jordan and Myanmar will take on Turkmenistan today.