16 Aug 2004

India's Saurav Ghosal has been selected as top seed in the Men's World Junior Championship which takes place in Islamabad, Pakistan, from 17-22 August.

The 18-year-old from Chennai was the surprise winner of the British Junior Open title in January - and, if successful in Islamabad, would become the first Indian winner of the World Junior crown since the inaugural biennial event in 1980.

Ghosal is expected to face Pakistan's 3/4 seed Farhan Mehboob, the Asian Junior Champion, in the semi-finals, en-route to a meeting with No2 seed Khalid Atlas Khan, also from Pakistan, in the final.

The line-up of the last 32, according to the seedings, is expected to be:

[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [17/32] Mohd Adnan (MAS)
[9/16] Basit Ashfaq (PAK) v [17/32] Michael Auer (CAN)
[9/16] Andrew Budd (AUS) v [17/32] Jens Schoor (GER)
[5/8] Tom Richards (ENG) v [17/32] Dick Lau (HKG)
[5/8] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v [17/32] Steven Robinson (AUS)
[9/16] James Wright (ENG) v [17/32] Arturo Salazar (MEX)
[9/16] Christopher Gordon (USA) v [17/32] Sebastian Weenink (NED)
[3/4] Farhan Mehboob (PAK) v [17/32] Muhammad Azfar Azan (MAS)
[3/4] Mahmoud Adel (EGY) v [17/32] Ahmed El Swaify (EGY)
[9/16] Campbell Grayson (NZL) v [17/32] Kristen Johnson (SCO)
[9/16] Simon Rosner (GER) v [17/32] Lewys Hurst (WAL)
[5/8] Yasir Butt (PAK) v [17/32] Ali B Al-Ramzi (KUW)
[5/8] Chris Simpson (ENG) v [17/32] Vikas Jangra (IND)
[9/16] Mohamed Anwar (EGY) v [17/32] Kevin Brechbuhl (SUI)
[9/16] Robin Clarke (CAN) v [17/32] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[2] Khalid Atlas Khan (PAK) v [17/32] Craig Heath (ZIM)