July 29, 2003 - The Indian junior team, which has qualified for the World Junior Men's Championship, to be held in Teheran, Iran in August, recently completed a successful tour of Tunisia and Egypt.

The Tunisian tour began on a winning note as India beat Tunisia A 23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19 before they downed the Tunisia Club team 25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22. In an annual tournament, India scored comfortable victories over Algeria (25-23, 25-23, 25-10) and Tunisia (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) junior sides, then beat Italy 3-2 and lost to Germany 0-3 in a tournament in Italy. However, in the semifinals, India had to fight hard to beat Algeria 25-19, 22-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-8 and in the final the Indian team went down to Tunisia A 24-26, 23-15, 25-21, 23-25.

Brimming with confidence the Indian team landed in Egypt and in the opening match against Egypt juniors they tied the match at 2-all before the clash was cancelled due to a power failure. After this small setback the Indian side played three 'Test' matches without any hitch. In the first 'Test' India beat Egypt juniors 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 25-22, but lost the second tamely at 18-25, 22-25, 23-25. But India bounced back again to win the third 'Test' at 17-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-23.

All in all it was a good show by the Indian boys who finished No. 2 in the Asian championship behind Iran.

Having done so well in the World Youth (boys) Championship in Thailand, in which the Indian boys had a fantastic run of success to finish runners-up to Brazil, who they beat in the group clashes, there is a lot of expectation on the Indian Junior Men's team to do well too at the World Junior Men's Championship.

But the team is in a tough pool with Russia and Germany.