Ghana Fall to Latvia in Davis Cup Final

Favourites Ghana Sunday lost 0-3 to Latvia in the finals of the Davis Cup Euro-Africa Zone Group III tournament Gaborone, Botswana.
The hitherto undefeated Ghanaians were outclassed by Latvia in a tough duel that set the stands alight at the Notwane Tennis Club.
High riding Ghana suffered a major psychological setback when Henry Adjei-Darko was crushed in the first singles 3-0 by Andrejs Filimov who won 4-1, 4-2 and 4-1.
Attempts by Ghana to redeem themselves in the second singles proved futile as their number one player Gunther Darkey went down 1-3 to Latvian Raimonds Sproga.
The Ghanaian lost the first two sets 4-2 and 5-4 and won the third set 4-2 but faltered 5-4 in the fourth to lose the duel.
In the doubles, Samuel Fumi and Frank Ofori failed to stem the tide losing 0-3 to Filimovs and Sproga.
However, Ghana had the consolation of gaining promotion to Group II alongside Latvia.
It was generally a bad end for African teams in the seven-day Davis Cup action as only hosts Botswana won at the close of the tournament.
Bouyed by a cheering home crod, Botswana staged another great fight to outwit Iceland 2-1 in a duel that was decided by the doubles match.
The hosts started well when Michael Judd beat David Halldorsson 3-1.
Botswana's march to victory was temporarily halted in the second singles when Petrus Molefe fell 0-3 to Raj Bonifacious.
In the do or die doubles, Molefe and Judd won 3-1 against Halldorsson and Arnar Sigurdsson to give the hosts fifth finish overall.
In other matches Madagascar finished fourth after a 2-1 setback against Lithuania, while Kenya fell 0-3 to Georgia.
Kenya, which is the only team to lose all its matches finished last in the tournament behind Georgia. Both have been relegated to Group IV, which is the lowest in world tennis.
While Ghana and Latvia proceed to Group II, Madagascar, Lithuania, Botswana and Iceland managed to maintain their Group III status.
Other teams in the Davis Cup Euro-Africa Zone Group III are to start the promotion battle Monday in Mauritius.
Bulgaria, Namibia, Togo and Macedonia are to compete in pool A, while Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina are in pool B.
The first two teams in the tournament would be promoted to Group II, while the last two would be relegated to Group IV.