LAHORE, March 17 Pakistan Junior Hockey team leaves for Egypt on Wednesday to participate in the five-nation junior hockey tournament in Cairo starting March 20.

The departing squad met with PHF President Qasim Zia and Secretary Asif Bajwa at the National Hockey Stadium on Tuesday.

Qasim on the occasion announced a one million rupees award on behalf of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer for the team for winning the recently-concluded junior tournament in Malaysia after beating India 3-2 on a golden goal in the final on Sunday. PHF too announced US$100 for each player of the winning squad.

Qasim was hopeful that the juniors would also win the next competition in Egypt. He said that the federation's real aim was to win the Junior World Cup-2009.

The five-nation tournament will be played from March 20 to 27. The other participating countries besides Pakistan are Egypt, Ghana, Italy and Russia. Pakistan plays its first match against Russia on March 20, the second against Ghana on March 23, third against Egypt on March 24 and the last pool match against India on March 26. The final and position matches will be played on March 27.