KARACHI, July 24: Chief Coach of National Squash team Jamshed Gul, expressed optimism of defending the title of World men's junior squash team championship to be played at the brand new Mushaf Mir Squash Complex in Islamabad from Aug 17 to 28.

Talking to mediapersons on Saturday, he said, " I am confident of defending the team title and also winning individual event as well as all players are very well prepared for the event."

He said that the boys have been going through vigorous training for the last couple of years and have enough international exposure during this period.

Jamshed opined that the boys are physically fit and they are in very high spirits and eager to win the championship. Jamshed said that they are not expecting very tough competition with other teams but feared that any foreign player could create upset in the competition.

He said, "We will not take any team lightly as we don't know much about the strength of players coming from abroad."

Coach said the players like Khalid Atlas and Farhan Mehboob have due potential in them to retain the title.

Some 22 countries will be participating in the event that make it very competitive but Pakistan national coach elaborated that not many countries have international fame and experienced players and national players having due experience have strong chances of living up to expectations.

Pakistan are defending world junior champions as they won the coveted team crown by defeating England 3-0 in the final of the 2002 edition of the biennial World Junior Championships held in the South Indian city of Chennai.-PPI