ISLAMABAD (IRNA) -- Khawaja Muhammad Awais, the bronze-medalist of Junior World Cup 24 years ago at Kuala Lumpur, arrived in Tehran Thursday to prepare Iran’s national hockey team for upcoming 15th Asian Games qualifying round in Bangladesh, a statement of Pakistan Hockey Federation said.

Awais, who used to play as striker, has been inducted in the Elite Panel of the coaches by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) last year.

On the eve of his departure to Iran, he said that coach now plays a vital role in the buildup of the team for any tournament and the most important way is to make the players fight in the field while sitting on the bench.

"After Bangladesh's qualifier, I will work on hockey development in various towns, cities of Iran," he said.

Awais represented Pakistan's age-group teams in several junior tournaments both at home and abroad during a career from 1980 to 1983.

He was earlier coach of Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Pakistan’s women team and has scaled several heights since he joined the profession in 2001.

He is among four (others being Tahir Zaman, Asif Bajwa and Qamar Ibrahim) Pakistanis who were in the FIH Elite Panel. He is also FIH Course Conductor and has also conducted several coaching clinics as a part of the PHF development plans.

He belongs to a famous Khawaja family, which migrated to Lahore from Kashmir valley after a stopover at Amritsar. This family achieved a landmark in sporting chapters of Pakistan.

Awais's father Khawaja Muhammad Aslam represented Pakistan in 1952 Olympics. Khawaja Aslam, who also wrote over 70 books on various topics, also supervised matches in the second World Cup in 1973 along with famous umpires like Renaud, Gillet, Servetto, Seegers, Vijayanathan, Jewell and Lathouwers.

Awais, along with twin brother Khawaja Muhammad Bilal, got bronze in 2nd Junior World Cup in 1982 while his younger brother Khawaja Muhammad Junaid showed remarkable performance by winning Player of the Tournament award in 1994 Champions Trophy at Lahore.