South Korea to lock horns with Kiwis in curtain raiser

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THERE YOU GO: China captain Li Jin (left) casts a number during the draw for the WJTC boys competition as organising chairman Dato Patrick Liew and tournament referee Gary Au-Yeung (right) looks on at SLTA Tennis Centre yesterday.

KUCHING: South Korea will open their challenge in the Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying for ITF World Junior Tennis Competition for boys against unseeded New Zealand in Group A as the preliminary rounds gets underway at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Tennis Centre today.

The top seeds, who won the event here last year after beating Japan 2-1, are represented by Lee Duck Hee, Chung Yun Seong and Oh Chan Yeong with Im Yong Bin as the captain.

In the same group, Thailand are lined up against eighth seeds India while second seeds Japan, who are drawn in Group B, are likely to face little problem from Iran and the other match is between seventh seeds Uzbekistan and Indonesia.

Third seeds Taiwan, who are also favourites to top Group C, will face Kazakhstan while Syria will play fifth seeds China in their first match.

Meanwhile, host Malaysia are facing an uphill battle in Group D where they are scheduled to play sixth seeds Philippines and fourth seeds Australia will meet Hong Kong in their opening match.

All matches will commence at 9am after the opening ceremony at 8:30am.

The 16 teams in this final qualifying event are vying for four tickets to the Grand Finals to be staged in the Czech Republic in August. Matches are played based one two singles and one doubles while the non-playing captains are allowed to coach their players on the courts.