LINKOU (Chinese Taipei): India's Ajeetesh Sandhu fired a bogey-free 4-under 68 and stayed within striking distance of leader Chapchai Nirat at the halfway stage of the Yeangder TPC on Friday.
Sandhu, who shot 67 in the first round, added a 68 to get to nine-under 135, as Chapchai added 8-under 64 to his opening day 69 to get to 11-under.
Sandhu was in a tie for second alongside Sette Prakongvech (69-66), Chieh-po Lee (67-68) and Barry Henson (68-67).
First-round leader, Shiv Kapur slipped to Tied-13th after a second round of 74, which was 10 shots higher than his first round 64.
As Sandhu was lying Tied-second, S Chikkarangappa (69-68) moved to 7-under and Tied-eighth while Rashid Khan (68-70) was 6-under and Tied-13th with Kapur as 12 of the 1?6 Indians in the field made the cut.
Other Indians making the cut were Honey Baisoya (71-69), Rahil Gangjee (70-70) in T-30 while Veer Ahlawat (70-72), Karandeep Kochhar (74-68) and Udayan Mane (71-71) were all T-48.
Kochhar after a 74 in first improved to 68 in second, while SSP Chawrasia, who shot 75 in first round, carded 68 in second to make the cut in T-57th.
Also making the cut was Manu Gandas (70-73) in T-57. Aman Raj (70-74) too squeezed inside the cut line at T-63rd.
Those missing the cut included Viraj Madappa (75-70), Aadil Bedi (69-77), Khalin Joshi (73-73) and M Dharma (75-75).
Sandhu, who won here in 2017, had two birdies on either side of the Linkou International Golf and Country Club. He had no bogeys. Chikkarangappa also played a flawless round with four birdies as he moved inside Top-10.
Rashid, who last won an Asian Tour title in 2014, had three birdies and one bogey, while Kapur had a rough day with four birdies and six bogeys.
Four-time Asian Tour winner Chapchai Nirat announced “my game is back” after firing one of his best tournament rounds for a considerable period, an eight-under-par 64, to take a two-shot lead halfway through the Yeangder TPC.
His last Asian Tour win came in 2014 but now he showed glimpses of his old self when he made nine birdies before dropping his only shot on the penultimate hole.
Chinese-Taipei teenage amateur Hsieh Cheng-wei grabbed much of the attention after adding a 74 to his opening 69 to reach one under and become the youngest male player to make the cut on one of the game's main Tours.
At 14 years and 33 days old, he beat the previous record set by China's Guan Tian-lang, set at the 2013 Masters, when he was 14 years and 169 days.
