KARACHI, March 9: An eight-member Pakistan junior under-18 table tennis team including four girls would fly to Algeria on March 18 to feature in World Junior Circuit Event 2006 being held there from March 21 to 24.

The team was picked during open trials held at Hyderabad recently under the aegis of Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF).

PTTF has opted for the trip to provide exposure to second tier after the PST had released funds for the uplift of the game and to achieve better results at SAF Games later this year, president PTTF, S. M. Sibtain, told Dawn on Thursday.

Pakistan, he said, plans to send junior teams in similar tournaments of the ITTF circuit in future also.

UAE would play host to an under-18 and under-15 competitions next month followed by India in June.

The PTTF official said regular participation on one hand would provide an opportunity to players to better their skills and on the other help earn points in the circuit.

He said this is after a long time that a strong junior team would proceed abroad to compete in international event.

He disclosed that PTTF had also offered to stage a similar tournament sometime next year.

The tournament would be preceded by two-day ITTF coaching programme, he said.

Team:

(Boys) Asad Umer, Mohammad Muzammil (Sindh), Salman Ahmed Virk, Syed Owais Hasan (Punjab).

(Girls) Arifa Sarwar, Sidra Sartaj (Punjab), Ayesha Khan, Maleeha Khurshid (Sindh).

(Officials) Arif Khan coach-cum-manager (boys), Ghazala Basit (girls coach).