Jodhpur: The odds are in overwhelming favour of China which looks set for a grand double in the Asian Teams Chess championships now underway here.

With 14 points in their kitty after the first five rounds of this prestigious event, the Chinese men are training their sights to wrest the crown from holders Uzbekistan. They lead India 'C' by 1.5 points and the two teams will face each other in a crucial sixth round match on Sunday after the rest day on Saturday.

Vietnam comes next in the list with 12 points while India 'A' and Turkmenistan share the fourth spot with 11.5 points apiece.

In the women's section, China is leading with 11 points followed by Vietnam (10) and India 'A' on 9.5 points as four more rounds remain to be played in this 13-team, 9 round quadrennial tournament.

China's dominance was expected and few would have thought about any hindrance in the Chinese women's path to win the title with players like World Champion Zhu Chen, World Cup Champion Xu Yuhua and World Junior Champion Wang Yue in their line up.

But as it turned out, the hot favourites crashed to India 'A' in the third round before it came back strongly to lead by a full point over nearest rival Vietnam.

Having already played Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam and the three Indian teams in the fray, the Chinese are expected to win the remaining rounds with ease.

The Indian teams have done quite well in both the sections but the surprise packet was India 'C' who came into the tournament n the last minute.

PTI