the Davis Cup last year when they head to Bolivia in April for this year's event.

Although the players who will take on teams from a handful of other countries won't officially be announced for another couple of weeks, Bermuda captain Steve Bean admitted: "Barring any injuries, you might reasonably expect the four that took us up to repeat.'' That would mean another outing for the quartet of Donald Evans, James Collieson, Michael Way and Ricky Mallory.

While Evans is working in Washington D.C. and Collieson is abroad at school, Way, who was left out of the singles last year, and Mallory have already started training for the competition, which will involve two singles and one doubles match against each of Bermuda's opponent.

All but Collieson, a red-shirted freshman at Auburn University, are in their 30's.

Bermuda's return to Group III from Group IV in the American Zone comes just two years after their relegation from the same group when they finished fourth out of six nations.

And while Bean is realistic enough to accept that successive promotions are out of the question, he expects the Island's players to prove competitive.

"We're certainly hoping to do well,'' he said. "But Division III is a very high level. We played El Salvador the year before last and they were very strong and won the division. They went up to Division II and came right back down again. "And we've seen some of the other teams like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic play before.'' Bermuda's opponents for the week-long competition beginning on April 23 have yet to be finalised.