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GUANGZHOU CHINA

SPO3SportsIndian Open winner Liang eyes title at home turfGuangzhou China, Oct 15 IANS Fresh from his title triumph in Hero Honda Indian Open in Delhi, golfer Liang Wen-Chong will aim for back-to-back victory as he tees off at his home turf for this week's $500,000 Midea China Classic tourney.One of China's favourite sporting sons, Liang won his second Asian Tour triumph in India last week. The 2007 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion is looking forward to demonstrate that form in front of his home fans. “It's always an honour to play in front of your home fans. Last week was a great week for me in India and I hope to repeat the same winning performance here again,” said Liang, who fired a record breaking 12-under-par 60 in the opening round of Indian Open, en route to winning the title. It will be an emotional homecoming for Liang as this will be the first time since the start of the season that he is back competing in the city he grew up in. With a partisan home crowd behind him, a victory from Liang will undoubtedly fan further scenes of joy and euphoria, especially after China's record-breaking feat at the recent summer Olympics. Liang knows that the expectations from their sporting heroes are at an all-time high. "As Chinese, we are all very proud of our country's glorious achievements at the recent Olympic Games. It will be fantastic if we can raise the standards and profile of golf on the global stage, very much like what our other fellow sportsmen have done,” Liang said. A win will also ignite his position at Asian Tour's Order of Merit, currently led by Mark Brown of New Zealand. “There are enough big-money events from now till the end of the year for anyone to narrow the gap, so the race is far from over. I am focusing on one event at a time and with a good performance each week, the race is definitely going to be interesting,” said Liang, who is presently ranked fifth on the rankings. Fellow Chinese golfer Zhang Lian-wei, long regarded as the flag bearer of golf in China is also upbeat about Chinese prospects this week. “Since I started my professional career, I am happy to see that golf in China has come so far, producing a great talent like Liang along the way," said Zhang, a five-time winner on the Asian Tour. --Indo-Asian News Serviceav/jg442 Words15101549