ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The eigh-member Pakistan contingent left for Doha on Friday night, minus national junior coach Rehmat Khan, to compete in the Qatar Open junior squash championship.

"Ayaz will be coaching the boys out there at Doha," said national junior squash coach Rehmat Khan. "I think he would efficiently handle the coaching assignments on this (Feb 20-27) tour," said Rehmat of his long-time deputy Ayaz.

He said the tournament would feature under-13 and under-15 categories. "I am pretty much confident our boys would grab the titles on offer there." He cited Danish Atlas and Farhan Zaman in the under-13 category and Waqar Mehboob and Shohaib Hassan in the under-15 draw as Pakistan's championship hopes.

"Farhan won us the under-13 title while Shohaib was the winner of under-15 crown at the British Juniors last month," Rehmat pointed out. "Besides these two, Danish Atlas and Waqar Mehboob are also good in their respective categories," he said.

Besides under-13 and under-15 crowns, Pakistan also grabbed the under-19 title at the British Juniors courtesy Basit Ashfaq. "During my (ongoing) tenure as national junior coach, Pakistan won World and Asian titles and also the three categories each in British Juniors in 2003 and 2005," Rehmat said.

"I now may want to see the progress of players like Yasir Butt, Farhan Mehboob, Basit Ashfaq and Aamir Atlas who were groomed during my period, in the seniors' competitions," Rehmat said, indicating that he might want to shift to a seniors' responsibility.

At Qatar Juniors, Pakistan will be represented in the under-13 category by Danish Atlas, Aurangzeb, Nowsherwan and Farhan Zaman and in the under-15 event by Waqar Mehboob, Tahir Iqbal, Shohaib Hassan and Asif Khan. The players attended a weeklong training camp here at Mushaf Squash Complex under the supervision of Rehmat Khan before heading for Doha. -APP