Played regularly on the Japan Tour over the past two seasons and has won once in 2003 at the Suntory Open, Jyoti Randhawa said it would be a difficult competition for Japanese.

“Last time they thought they could beat us with two or three of their good players missing but this time Japan know they need to do much more than that (to win),” he said.

Randhawa, who was one of the eight automatic selections, before captain Hsieh Min-Nan added four more names as his picks, appeared confident of the win this time.

“Seeing them and seeing Asian Tour players (in action) I think we can definitely beat them again. The best of Asia, I think, are a notch over Japan.

“It is a great tournament - I think there is more pressure at that tournament than any other strokeplay event as there is (Asian) pride at stake,” he said.

“Winning all my matches last time gave me great pride. I’ve been talking to the other (Asian) players and we want to experience that winning feeling again.”