The 19-year-old Ding, gold medalist at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, will spearhead the Chinese charge on the medals in cue sports at the Al-Saad Stadium from Dec. 4-11.

However, Ding may have to negotiate Indian Manan Chandra, a semifinalst at the recent world championship, in quarterfinals, and this battle should be one of the highlights of the competition.

Atthasit Mahitthi of Thailand has been seeded second in snooker singles.

Thailand's Praput Chaithanasakun, the double gold medalist at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, tops the seedings in billiards singles, followed by Oo Kyaw of Myanmar.

The field also includes Pankaj Advani of India, the world championship and Asian championship winner in 2005.

Players from Chinese Taipei and the Philippines dominate the seedings in the pool events, namely 8-Ball and 9-Ball.