11 April 2004	Sunday	20 Safar 1425

KARACHI, April 10: Pakistan Junior team coach Asif Bajwa sees arch-rivals India, the reigning world champions as the main threat his side will have to counter in the ten-nation 5th Junior Asia Cup , to be held at Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium from April 20 to 29.

"Indians, considering their recent performance and past track record, are the best and most experienced team among the participants," he said in an interview on Saturday.

"Playing at home will definitely give us an edge over all the teams, particularly Indians," he said.

He said that they had a powerful penalty corner striker in Sandeep Singh and had got a good forward line. But "we too are geared up and well prepared to tackle them," he added.

"We have picked the best lot for the event, who have produced their best," he said and added the team's eyes are fixed on the target, which is to qualify for the next year's Junior World Cup in Holland.

Asif said the team were equally good in all areas including deep defence, half line and the forward line and were the best selected over past one year.

The team as a whole focussed on identifying and rectifying their weak areas during training camps, triangular events, series against the Netherlands and Malaysian juniors. "We tried our best to rectify shortcomings and improve weak departments," Asif said.

The present junior lot have played around 40 to 50 internationals in over a year, which has endowed them with useful experience. The boys are are working hard and are eager to win the Cup, he added.

Hosts Pakistan are drawn in Pool A with Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Singapore while holders India, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka are placed in Pool B.-APP