RP Davis Cuppers hope to retain Group I spot vs Koreans

The RP Davis Cup team left for Changwon, South Korea early Saturday morning confident that they can hurdle the challenge of the host to keep the country’s hopes of remaining in Group I for next year's Davis Cup tie. Filipino-American Cecil Mamiit is once again appointed as the playing team captain of the squad and will be supported by fellow Fil-Am Treat Conrad Huey, Johnny Arcilla and Elbert Anasta. "I've learned a lot when I was first appointed to this position when we played Chinese Taipei in the first round. My experience there will definitely help me this time," said Mamiit, who has been part of the RP Davis Cup team since 2006. The Koreans will host the relegation from September 17 to 19 and will be held at thje Chanwon Municipal Tennis Center, which is a hard court surface. It is important for both the Philippines and Korea to win this tie since the winner will remain in Group I while the loser will be demoted to Group II in 2011. "Cecil is not getting any younger and definitely he would not want to spend another year in Group II. He dreams to lead the team to the World Group elimination and we may accomplish it next year provided we maintain our current position," said Philippine Tennis Association (PTA) vice president and RP Davis Cup coordinator Randy Villanueva. The Philippines suffered a 5-0 drubbing to Japan in the opening round before absorbing a 4-1 loss to Chinese Taipei in the first round. Korea, meanwhile, bowed to Kazakhstan, 5-0, and to Uzbekistan, 3-2. Playing for the host country are Lim Young-kyu, Jeong Suk-young, Kim Hyun-joon and Seol Jae-Min as they try to avoid being shamed by their foreign rivals on home turf. Lim is the highest ranked player for both teams in the singles event at 319 as he tries to lead his squad to extend their dominance against the Filipinos. Korea holds a 5-3 overall record against the Philippines, which won the first three of their encounters. "This is the first time I will be playing in their court but I think we have a good chance of beating them. We may have loss to Chinese Taipei but our performance was quite better when we competed with Japan. I hope we can ride high on that and get the victory in Korea," added Mamiit. Replacing the loser of the RP-Korea Group I relegation tie next year is the winner of the Thailand-New Zealand match up, which will be held on the same dates in Bangkok. – JVP, GMANews.TV