LAHORE    -   Around 60 top performers of the national U19 one-day and three-day events have assembled in Lahore to prepare for the inaugu­ral edition of the Pakistan Junior League. The National U19 Championship (three-day) concluded in Karachi on Sunday with Sindh Blues emerging victorious in the all-Sindh final against Sindh Whites at the UBL Sports Complex. The U19 players have joined the perform­ers of the domestic U16 and U13 tournaments played this year who are already lodged in Lahore as part of the PCB Pathway Programme. The players will work with local and foreign coaches (Engro Cricket Coaching Project) and will be integrated into the PCB Pathway Programme in the lead-up to the PJL draft. The players who will make it to the six PJL teams will stay back in Lahore for a collective preparation camp before they join their re­spective sides towards the end of September when the PJL support period begins. The inaugural edition of the junior league will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium, La­hore from 6-21 October. In order to introduce the play­ers to the fans and followers of the game, profile videos of the U19 star performers are being uploaded on the PJL social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Insta­gram and TikTok). Mean­while, the interest of foreign players in the inaugural PJL edition continues to rise as the number of entries for the draft have now exceeded 160, with a total of 19 cricket boards having their repre­sentation at the draft.