Mumbai, September 15: Yuto Muramatsu from Japan and Doo Hoi Kem from Hong Kong occupied the pride of place in the Junior Boys and Junior Girls, respectively, when the seeding lists were announced at the end of the group engagements in the two sections here this afternoon.

Though none of the Chinese participants could make it to the top of both lists, the draw has one Chinese in Liang Jingkun at No. 4 and figuring in the top half while two Chinese Yu Ziyang at No. 2 and Zhou Qihao at No. 3 were placed in the bottom half of the Junior Boys draw which effectively means that they could run into each other in the semifinals, limiting the chance of Chinese presence in the final to just two. Nevertheless, if Liang manages to progress unhindered he could see himself in the semifinal and face top-seed Muramatsu in the semis. Both Muramatsu and Yu have received first-round byes.

Comparatively, four from Japan have qualified for the main draw while three each from South Korea and Taipei, two Hong Kong and one from Thailand have joined them to enter the pre-quarterfinals, to be played later tonight.

However, the Junior Girls draw saw four Chinese making it to the pre-quarterfinals with Liu Gaoyang at No. 2, Chen Xingtong at No. 4 and Wang Manyu at No. 6. The lone Chinese who is not seeded is Chen ke and will take on No. 8 Japanese Miyu Kato in the first round. Other Japanese Hitomi Sato is seeded No. 3 while Sakura Mori at No. 5.

Apart from Doo, two other paddlers from Hong Kong Soo Wai Yam Minnie and Lam Yee Lok, both unseeded, have also made it to the main draw. With no bye, all 16 players will be seen in action from the first round itself.

As for the hosts, only Ayhika Mukherjee, who topped group 13 by beating Korean Lee Seul (3-0) this morning, has a tough task at hand as she runs into No. 6 seed Wang Manyu in the first round later tonight. If Ayhika wins the pre-quarterfinal match against the Chinese the Indian will meet either No. 3 seed Sato from Japan or Hong Kong’s Lam Yee Lok.