Pakistan Junior confident of performing well

Lahore, Jul 8 (UNI) Pakistan hockey team today promised a better showing in the 6th Junior Asia Cup to be held in Hyderabad (India) from July 11 to 18.

Before leaving for India, team manager and chief coach Jahangir Ahmed Butt, appeared very confident of performing well in the tournament saying ''Pakistan play their toughest pool match against Korea on Sunday. After that we only have to concentrate on the next big challenge of taking on India in the final.'' The team comprising 18 players and six officials, left for Hyderabad via Dubai.

Initially it was supposed to be a 10-team competition, however, with China and Thailand's withdrawl now it will be an eight-team event divided into two pools.

Pakistan who have been placed in Pool B along with Bangladesh, Korea and Oman, play their opening match against Oman on July 11.

Pool A comprises India, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

The top six teams in the Junior Asia Cup will qualify for next year's Junior World Cup to be staged jointly by Malaysia and Singapore.

Squad: Imran Shah, Imran Butt, Kashif Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Imran Abbas, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Atiq, Zaheer Ahmed, Fareed Ahmed, Aamir Shahzad, Syed Adeel Hussain, Shafqat Rasool (Captain), Mohammad Taufiq, Abdul Haseem Khan, Inayatullah, Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Rizwan, Nasir Shahzad.

Officials: Jahangir Butt (manager/chief coach), Danish Kaleem and Kamran Ashraf (coaches) Match schedule: July 11: Oman v Pakistan, Singapore v Malaysia, Bangladesh v Korea, India v Japan July 12: Singapore v Japan, Malaysia v India July 13: Oman v Bangladesh, Pakistan v Korea, July 14: Japan v Malaysia, Pakistan v Bangladesh, Korea v Oman, India v Singapore July 16: Placement matches July 17: Placement matches July 18: Third place match, and Final UNI XC HSB RAR HT1900