KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25: Pakistani lapel pins are one of the hot items among the World Cup souvenirs on sale here.

“People are buying them the most because they think Pakistan are going to win the tournament,” Phil Andrew of Phil Equipment Sportswear, the official merchandise licensee, told Dawn.

From lapel pins to key chains, from t-shirts to scarves, the merchandise includes a whole range of products with the most prominent being Juara, the tiger mascot of the tournament.

Juara meaning champion, is being sold in all shapes and sizes. The cuddly animal is available holding flags of each country and also comes with a hockey stick in hand.

The animal is plastered everywhere, wherever you go. It is on posters and banners that are posted on lampposts on the main roads in the city and on the shuttle buses.

Although Juara is similar to Hodori, the mascot of the 1998 Seoul Olympics, it has the potential of becoming a figure that the Malaysians wouldn’t soon forget. But then Hodori was a tiger cub, Juara is a fully grown animal.