The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Kapur to lead Indian challenge

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Thursday, Sep 28, 2006
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Kapur to lead Indian challenge

Taipei: After failing in his joint effort with Gaurav Ghei to earn a World Cup berth, talented Shiv Kapur will be aiming to overcome the setback when he tees off in the $500,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters here on Thursday.

Apart from Kapur, Kolkata pro Rahil Gangjee will also be in the fray, spearheading Indian challenge at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club's Tamsui course.

Meanwhile, defending champion Lu Wei-chih of Chinese Taipei will be looking to reignite his winning form this year again. While it was a so-near-so-far story for Kapur in the World Cup qualifiers, Gangjee recently showed superb form, finishing joint third at the Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open on Sunday and breaking into the top 30 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit in the process.

Gangjee has hit a rich vein of form with two top-three outings from his last four starts and the slightly-built Indian is hoping to add a second title to his name following his maiden triumph in the 2004 Volkswagen Masters-China.

There are a total of nine Indians in the field. There is the seasoned Gaurav Ghei, who played the Tamsui course many times on this course, the in-form and consistent, S.S.P. Chowrasia, Arjun Singh, hoping to finish in top-60 of the Money List, Harmeet Kahlon, fighting to keep his card, young Gurbaaz Mann and Digvijay Singh, recently elected to the Players Committee (TPC) of Asian Tour.

Lu's good spell

Meanwhile, defending champion Lu Wei-chih of Chinese Taipei will be looking to rediscover his winning form.

Following his breakthrough victory at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club's Tamsui course last year, Lu, rated as one of Asia's rising stars, has built on that success with a good spell on the Asian Tour this season.

Among his chief rivals apart from the two Indians, Gangjee and Kapur, will be Australian Brad Kennedy and Thailand's Prom Meesawat, third on the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit and the highest ranked player in this week's field.

Chinese Taipei's Lin Wen-tang will also be looking for revenge as he was pipped at the post last year by Lu.

Several of Chinese Taipei's Japan-based players including Lin Keng-chi, Asia's No. 1 in 1995, and Yeh Wei-tze will be back, too. — PTI

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