NICK Dougherty has six weeks to brush up on his Japanese after being picked to represent England in the Boys World Team Championship.

The 16-year-old Shaw Hill starlet played a starring role when England won the annual event for the first time ever in Japan last year.

And the former QEGS student will be looking to repeat those heroics again when the championships get under way at Asahi Kokusai Toyjo Golf and Country Club, near Osaka, in Japan on 17-20 June.

Dougherty is the only member of the four-man team who played in last year's event to be picked again.

David Porter, 16 (Stoneham), Sandeep Grewal, 17 (Heswall), and Scott Godfrey, 17 (St Ennoc) make up the 1999 quartet.

It's the eighth time the championships have been staged and the previous seven titles have been shared between the United States, Japan and England.

The course forms part of a 63-hole complex and the par 72 Toyjo layout is the longest course in Asia at 7,700 yards.

The England team will fly out on June 11 and during their nine-day stay they will spend two nights with Japanese families to get a taste of the Japanese way of life.

Meanwhile, Dougherty has been selected to play in Lancashire's match against Durham at Tyneside GC this Saturday.

Blackburn's Tony Jackson and Accrington's Trevor Foster are also included in the 12-man team.

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