LAHORE, Aug 19: A two-member Pakistan junior badminton team along with one official left for Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, to take part in the Asian youth championship being held there from Aug 22 to 26.

The players, Arsalan Khan and Mohammad Irfan Saeed, are accompanied by manager Rao Amanat Ali.

Arsalan, the national U-16 champion for two consecutive years, told Dawn that he was both nervous as well as excited since he was participating in a tournament of such high calibre for the first time. He hoped to do well there, adding that he trained very hard at the two-week preparatory camp set up at the LDA Sports Complex, Samanabad.

The other player Irfan, who had lost the final of U-16 to Arslan this year, was also very optimistic. Both boys hail from Lahore and are students of Coach Nadeem Javed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Badminton Federation Secretary Aamir Hayat Khan said that since Pakistan in the past didn’t have any impressive players in the younger lot, the PBF had earlier avoided sending a junior team at the Asian level.