Pakistan junior TT team spends a day in Mumbai en route Goa

Mumbai, Sep 11 (UNI) Pakistan's junior table tennis team got a foretaste of Indian hospitality when they were in transit in Mumbai for a day en route to Panaji, where they will take part in the 11,050 2007 dollar ITTF World Junior Circuit Indian Junior Open table tennis event from September 12-15.

The events are for under-19 and under-14.

After a two-night train journey from Amritsar, the tired team found solace at Khar Gymkhana. The Gymkhana President Sunder Sadnani and table tennis player Jagdeep Bhiwandkar, now a Junior India coach, allowed them use of their facilities including breakfast and dinner, before they took the evening bus for Goa today.

To top it all they had words of advice from India's all-time great Kamlesh Mehta, who is coach of the Indian team for the upcoming Asians in China. Kamlesh told the 17-member team of ten boys and seven girls, ''I know you have spent three nights in travel. But sports persons are known to be tough, just put it aside and focus on your game. I know you will be up against top side but the best players have an off day, do your best and you can surprise your opponents.'' The team's Manager and Vice-President of the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation Irshad Syed said that they will never forget their Mumbai experience. ''We got to swim, to use the gym facilities, we could not play much as the kids were tired but were made to feel at home. I hope Khar Gymkhana and Karachi Gymkhana, to which I belong, will have an exchange of visits in the future so that we can repay our hospitality,'' he expressed.

International Table Tennis Umpire Iftikar-ul-Haq, who is accompanying the team, said, ''I have been to India seven times and never once did I feel that I was in a foreign land. I once umpired Kamlesh Mehta's match and his honesty in giving a match point that I had thought was his and which cost him a match against Korea, left an indelible mark on me.'' The boys team is led by Awais Hassan, a Karachi lad who won a cadet bronze at a tour event in Kolkata. There is a 11-year-old kid, Rameez Khan, from Peshwar who packs a punch in his shots.

The girls team is led by Karchi's Ayesha Khan, who said she was looking to better her previous performance of losing in the third rounds.

The participating countries are: India, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt.

The Pakistan team: Girls: Ayesha Khan, Mobeen Haneef, Maliha Khurshid, Muzammil Jawed, Anam Saeed, Qurat-ul-Ain, Anusha, Naeen Uzma (manager).

Boys: Awais Hassan, Abdul Rahim, Fahim Raza, Shozab Raza, Mohammed Usman, Zeeshan Arshad, Salman Virk, Rameez Khan, Abdullah Naeem, Irshad Syed (manager).

UNI