The meeting proceeded in a friendly atmosphere while the participants had dinner. However, each player seemed to be only concerned about who would be paired with who. I heard they whispered to each other about matching of the players, for example, "if XXX is paired with XXX, they would become a strong pair."

The lot drawing started. Two boxes, one for men and the other for women, were carried into the room. Both boxes contained balls with an alphabet written on each. The number of the balls was equal to that of the players who will participate in the tournament. Under the rules of the lot drawing, each participant player takes out a ball from the box.

A man and a woman who draws the same alphabet are paired with each other for the tournament. For the players absent because of the Oza title matches, other people drew the lots.

	One after another, the players mounted the platform to take out a ball from the box. First, the pair of Ms. Mitsuru Koyama and Mr. Kensei Kato was made. Since this pair consists of a teacher and his student, someone among the audience commented, "That's a strong pair!"
When 9-dan Mr. Ishida ascended the platform, all female players fixed their eyes on him. It is a fact that Mr. Ishida has an established image as a "male player who is strict with his partner in pair Go" because he often sighs or droops his shoulders in response to the moves made by his partner in games. The female player who drew the same alphabet as Mr. Ishida was 5-dan Ms. Yukari Umezawa. At the moment Ms. Umezawa drew the lot, she cried, "Ah….!", which made the audience laugh.

After the lot drawing finished with mixed feelings, I interviewed some pairs.