Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan earned themselves a return to Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Group I in 2020 after securing promotion from Group II with a dominant display in Malaysia, one year after missing out in the promotion play-off, Fed Cup reported.

A week after Chinese Taipei clinched the first of two promotion places in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, captain Petr Lebed’s team dominated in Kuala Lumpur, winning eight of their nine matches to secure a return to Asia/Oceania Group I for the first time in three years.

Uzbekistan had been Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I stalwarts between 2006 and 2016, reaching the World Group II Play-offs in 2008. But after relegation in 2016, they have spent the past three years bidding to escape Group II, narrowly missing out on promotion to Group I in 2018 after falling 3-0 to Indonesia in the promotion play-off.

Memories of that near miss no doubt flooded back for Uzbekistan when, having swept past Malaysia and Turkmenistan without dropping a match, they found themselves trailing Hong Kong in the play-off when Ho-Ching Wu beat Nigina Abduramova 7-6(4) 6-4.

But Sabina Sharipova, the top-ranked player involved in Kuala Lumpur, drew Uzbekistan level with a 7-5 6-0 victory over Eudice Chong, before Abduramova and Agkul Amanmuradova sealed promotion with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 win against Chong and Hong Yi Cody Wong.