Nepali Men's Tennis Team has been relegated from Davis Cup Tennis. In the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nepal was pushed into relegation after failing to win a single match. Nepal competed in Group 4 of the Asia/Oceania region.

Nepal lost 2-0 to Kuwait in the relegation playoff on Saturday. If they had won this match, Nepal could have remained in Group 4. Last year, Nepal got a historic promotion from Group '5' with a good performance.

Nepal's Pranab Manandhar lost to Kuwait's Badr Abdullah 7-5, 6-0 in the first match at the National Tennis Center in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Similarly, Nepal's number one player Pradeep Khadka lost his match against Kuwait's Isa Quazard 6-1, 6-2.

Nepal did not have to play the doubles match after losing two matches in a row. Kuwait avoided relegation while hosts Malaysia and the Philippines were promoted. In the promotion playoff on Saturday, Malaysia defeated Qatar 2-0 and the Philippines defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-0. The Philippines is a team that was promoted along with Nepal last year.

Starting from July 16, Nishan Shrestha and Ayushman Ghale have participated in the Davis Cup from Nepal along with Pradeep, Pranab. Jitendra Periyar was the coach. In Group 4, Nepal along with Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Pacific Oceania, Qatar, Iraq and Philippines competed in two groups. 

Nepal was placed in Group 'A' with Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq. Even in the group stage, Nepal could not win a single game. All three teams were defeated by the same score of 3-0. Nepalese players who easily lost the match against Malaysia, Pranav and Pradeep won 1-1 sets in singles against Kirtistan and Ayushman and Pravan also won a set in doubles. 

Against Iraq, Nishan and Pranav fought hard against their opponents in singles but could not win the match. In doubles, the pair of Pradeep and Ayushman had a three-set competition against Iraq's Al Sammari and Al Hatem Gharairi. The first two sets went to tiebreakers. Finally, the Nepali players lost the match 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (2/7), 6-0.

It is the third time that Nepal has participated in the Davis Cup, which is considered the world cup of tennis. Pradeep is the only one who plays all three times. Pranav also played last year when Ayush and Nishan participated for the first time. Pradeep won three matches last year.

Prof. Abhishek Bastola, who gave excellent performances in the previous two editions, was not in the team this time. He was playing professional tennis in the US and was barred from qualifying. The Nepal Tennis Association held a qualifying tournament on June 2. He was not included in the team as he did not come for the selection. But Abhishek expressed his displeasure saying that he was informed by the association only two days before the selection competition. 

Abhishek had said that since he was undefeated in singles in the previous two editions, he is continuously training and playing ATP tournaments in the hope of making it to the team.