The 25th Asian Junior Championships was off to a start with the seeded players having it easy at Club Palm Bay, Marawila, Sri Lanka here today. Spearheading the challenge in the men's section was the top seed GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan of Iran.

Meeting the local challenge from Kaushika De Silva of Sri Lanka, Ghaem was made to sweat a little before snatching the full point. Following Ghaem were thirteen others, including a pack of Indians led by IM Sundararajan Kidambi at 1.0 point. The women event, wherein eight Indian girls are vying for the top honors it was the same story with all the top seeds scoring easy wins in the opener.

Round 1 Results (Men)

Kaushika De Silva lost to Ghaem Maghami Ehsan
Mark Paragua beat De Mel Sajitha
De Silva Asoka lost to Sundararajan Kidambi
S Satyapragyan beat De Silva E Dineth
De Silva Taamara lost to Megaranto Susanto
Deepan Chakravarthy beat Dehigama D R K B
Dissanyake P R lost to R Preetham Sharma
Smerdon David Craig beat Y D B Madugalle
M K Athula Russell drew with Peyman Mohajerin
G Rohit beat Palawatta I T
Samarasekara Dumindu lost to Nuwan Didul De Silva
Edirishinghe Dulan beat Samarasinghe Jude
Subasinghe Sanjeewa lost to Mehdi Hasan
Thukorala P M A B lost to Vu Dinh Hung
Wijesinghe Dilshan lost to Himanshu Kumar


Round 1 Results  (Women)

Dona Chathuri lost to Dronavalli Harika
M Kasturi beat Dona Darshi Muheepa
Dulani Pankaja lost to Tania Sachdev
Y Prathiba beat Harshani Konara
Hyunh Mai Phuong Dun lost to Eesha Karavade
P Priya beat Jayathilake Kaumali
Kariyapperma Aloka lost to J E Kavitha
Siti Zuleika beat Anupama Konara
Lakmini Anuradha lost to Aketaeva Dana
Mary Ann Gomes beat Nilupa Prasadini
Piumi Maheshika drew Abeyanayake Dhanushi
Andavattaege Sajani beat Sisindra Tharangani
Thisaru Chathurika lost to Chandima Merenghngha
Dilini Umesha lost to Wettesinghe Samanthi