Al Balooshi, who together with Omar Behroozian and Fahad Al Janahi, formed the UAE (A) team, welcomed the return of the competition following a five-year hiatus and said the week-long event gave the Emirati players some much-needed match practice.
The 22nd edition of the Nations Cup, held at Al Nasr Leisureland, saw UAE’s first team come through Group B before falling to Belgium.
“It was a great competition after a very long absence. We got to play some strong matches, it was very beneficial for us,” said the 36-year-old Al Balooshi, a long-time figure in the UAE’s Davis Cup squad.
“We were in desperate need to test ourselves, find out where we’re at, and the competition was stronger than usual this year.
“Omar was injured and couldn’t play in the semis. I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent either in the semis because the competition took its toll on me. We played lots of long matches over a whole week.”
Al Balooshi hailed the efforts of 17-year-old Al Janahi, who is being groomed to take over the Davis Cup helm after he and Behroozian retire and said: “Fahad’s results were really great. If he continues playing at this level, we expect him to lead the UAE team in the future.”
In the finals on Saturday, Belgium beat the Philippines 2-1 to take the men’s title along with Dh20,000, while the Belarusian/Russian duo of Angelina Gordienko and Katerina Karpuk sealed a 2-0 victory over the Philippines to triumph in the women’s event to claim Dh10,000.
