Vadodara, January 7: It was a coincident that the top-half draws in both Youth Boys and Youth Girls sections have turned out to be tough, indicating some interesting battles  on cards when the Stage 2 matches begin this afternoon in the 11Even Sports 78th Junior and Youth National Championships at the SAMA Indoor Complex here today.

For instance, last year’s winners Rajasthan will clash with Karnataka, while North Bengal cross sword with Delhi, PSPB with Punjab and Maharashtra B with Mizoram. In comparison, the bottom half have teams like Uttar Pradesh meeting Haryana, Assam taking on Gujarat, West Bengal clashing with Telangana and Tamil Nadu taking on each other in the pre-quarterfinals, by far the toughest outing of the draw.

Similarly, the top half of Youth Girls is packed with teams like North Bengal vs Odisha, Kerala pitted against Karnataka, Airports Authority taking on Andhra Pradesh while Rajasthan clashing with Telangana. In the bottom half, it will be a battle between Tamil Nadu against Assam, Gujarat meeting Maharashtra A and Haryana taking on West Bengal.