Vivek Bhandari to take on Vijay Kumar at SRF All-India Golf

New Delhi, Mar 12 (UNI) Vivek Bhandari will have his work cut out as he takes on Vijay Kumar in the first round of the SRF All-India Professional Matchplay Golf Championship which gets underway at the Noida Golf Course tomorrow.

The 2002 Indian Open winner, Vijay has won over 60 titles on the domestic tour including this tournament in 2003 and will be a tough match play opponent.

However, Vivek is in excellent form and is ranked fourth for this competition, as apposed to Vijay who has played just two events on the PGTI so far and is ranked 61st this week.

Meanwhile, Shiv Praksah, a winner here in 2002 will take on Chandigarh's AS Lehal while top seed Ashok Kumar will play against Jaideep Patwardhan and number two seed Digvijay Singh face Raghav Wahi tomorrow.

Other key matches scheduled for tomorrow include Rahul Ganapthy against current All-India champion Himmat Singh Rai, Ali Sher taking on Gurki Shergill, Indrajit Bhalotia facing Naman Dawar, Randhir Ghotra versus Rohit Chaudhary, Jaiveer Virk playing Abhishek Ahlawat, S Madaiah against BG Lalith Kumara and Mukesh Kumar meeting 2006 Asian Games silver medallist Chiragh Kumar.

In all, 64 professional golfers will vie for top honours in the championship which will conclude with a 36-hole final on March 17.

UNI