The field will consist of 75 Asian Tour players, 40 Thais, 10 from the PGA of Australasia, 5 from the Japan Golf Tour, 16 special invitations and 10 players from the qualifying tournament, which will be held on Monday, July 23.

The Royal Cup is the third and final tour event being played in the Kingdom this year, following the Thailand Open in Cha Choeng Sao in June and the Queen’s Cup at the same par-72 course in Pattaya three weeks ago.

Local contenders include Panuphol Pittayarat, who will be seeking his second home title after winning the Thailand Open by one stroke over countryman Poom Saksaensin.

Law graduate Natipong Srithong is another Thai who will be vying for the trophy in honour of HM King Vajralongkorn whose 66th birthday falls on July 28. Natipong has been in remarkable form recently, posting five top-10 finishes in his last seven tournaments.

One man missing, however, is Jazz Janwattananond who claimed his second tour title at the same course in the Queen’s Cup last month. He needs to rest after being one of three Thais playing in the Open in Scotland, starting tomorrow.

Prarat Suwannamaytakorn Director of Professional Sports Promotion and Development Division said: “SAT and NSDF offers our support to all kind of sport development, and golf is one of that. Royal Cup 2018 is also in our support plan and aim to improve the organizing of golf tournament in Thailand and to create an international stage for Thai players to develop their game, including making Thailand as the sport hub of Asia.”

Live TV coverage will be on True Sport HD 3 (True Visions) from 1pm-4pm on Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29.

Gates open at 8am each day and B100 tickets for each day can be bought at a ticket booth near the public entrance. Admission is free for those aged under 18 and over 60 years old.

Somphorn Wannasriri, Director of Sports Science Department said on behalf of Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) that Thailand will send 830 athletes (445 male and 383 female) to take part in the 426-gold medal Games in Jakarta and Palembang.

“After having assessments with sports associations, we hope to win 17 golds, 15 silvers and 28 bronzes from 46 sport disciplines,” said Somphon during a Meet the Press conference yesterday at SAT Complex in Hua Mark.

The Kingdom has set its highest target of four gold medals from the pet favourite sepak takraw, plus two each from sailing and rowing. Other sports such as cycling, bowling, pencak silat, jiu jitsu, weight lifting and taekwondo are expected to yield one gold medal each.

“We have set a budget of over Bt700 for a four-year preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which is also used to prepare athletes for this Asiad. We hope to achieve more golds than last time in South Korea,” the SAT representative said.

Thailand won a haul of 12 gold medals from the Incheon Games four years ago and finished sixth in the medal tally, the best position of all the Asean Countries.

Nutthapong Lohitnavy

Thai Cycling Association Technical Deputy Chairman Nutthapong Lohitnavy rated Vipavee Deekaballes, the 16th Asian Championships Downhill winner, as the best gold medal prospect for the Thai cycling team in the downhill event.

Thailand won two cycling golds four years ago, through Jutathip Maneephan (road race) and Amanda Carr (BMX).

“As the conditions of the route in Indonesia don’t suit Jutathip’s style, we have moved her to compete in the omnium instead,” Nutthapong said. “We expect a lot from Vipavee but the host cyclist will be the heavy favourites as they are used to the routes, especially the hilly conditions over the last 16km.”

Carr, the American-Thai sweetheart who was one of the most popular Asian Games athletes among Thai fans in 2016, will not compete this time due to unforeseen circumstances.

The 23-year-old won his first Asian Tour title at his national open last year and is hopeful of repeating that winning form at the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course where the Fiji International is being held and tri-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour again.

While he is under no illusions of the stiff challenges including the course conditions that lie ahead, the Thai, who was among nine players who won their first Asian Tour titles in 2017, is optimistic of rising to the occasion.

“I’m in good form and I’m enjoying my golf. I believe I can do well. I expect it to be very windy as we are playing near the ocean and I’ll have to change a bit of my strategy.

“I’ll be trying to hit lots of low balls and hopefully the scores will be low too!” said Rattanon who represented Thailand during his amateur days and won the team and individual gold medals at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

Rattanon has enjoyed three top-10s on the Asian Tour this season where he finished tied-fifth, fourth and ninth in Myanmar, Japan and Indonesia respectively.

The Thai is part of the international field expected to light up the Fiji International with more than 20 Asian Tour winners set to tee off against the breathtaking views of the Coral Coast.

“It’s always nice to visit a new country like Fiji. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about Fiji and I’ll be looking forward to taking in the sights when I’m there while putting in a strong performance on the golf course,” said Rattanon.

The Fiji International will be headlined by former World Number one and one of Fiji’s greatest sportsmen Vijay Singh as well as four-time Major winner Ernie Els of South Africa.

After overcoming a determined Croatia to win 4-2 in Sunday’s final in Russia, the team came back to euphoric crowds in Paris hoping to catch a glimpse of the players that have captured the country’s imagination.

They did not disappoint, passing the golden World Cup trophy from player to player as they jumped and danced on an open-air bus with “World Champions” emblazoned on its side.

“Wow, it was completely crazy! They are too beautiful, France is beautiful!” said Julia Cohen, 28, after seeing players pass by on the Champs-Elysees, the gathering point for all national celebrations.

The parade was under heavy police guard, with some of the 2,000 officers deployed in the capital to ensure the safety of the estimated 300,000 people who turned up.

Above the partying crowds, nine jets from the Patrouille de France, the air force’s acrobatic unit, did an honorary flyover trailing blue, white and red smoke.

– ‘Allez les Bleus!’ –

After leaving the Champs-Elysees, the players changed into custom-made blue suits before being welcomed at the Elysee Palace by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, who were also decked out in blue for the occasion.

Macron has already promised the Legion of Honour for the victors’ “exceptional services” to the country, an award given to the legendary team that won France’s first World Cup title in 1998.

The first couple then posed with the team as they sang the Marseillaise national anthem and waved scarves for a joyous group photo, before heading inside for a private meeting.

“Thanks to you all!” Macron told the team after gathering again outside. “This team is beautiful because you are united!”

Midfielder Paul Pogba, despite his voice nearly failing him, then proved himself a showman off the pitch as well as on by leading the guests in an impromptu celebratory rap punctuated by “Allez les Bleus!”

“It’s true, we went on the pitch, and we said, We’re going to crush them all!” he said.

– ‘Thank you!’ –

Nearly 3,000 guests were received in the Elysee gardens, including around 1,000 youths from local football clubs such as Bondy, the gritty Paris suburb whose towering housing blocks produced rising star forward Kylian Mbappe.

Some of the kids even got to touch the famed trophy, which captain Hugo Lloris handed around.

The guests were also treated to the beats of DJ Snake, who has worked with pop stars including Lady Gaga and is part of the Pardon My French collective of French DJs.

Mbappe, who applied the coup de grace in the final to cement his place as a new global superstar at just 19, said he achieved what he had set out to do — win the World Cup.

“We are proud to make the French happy,” he told French channel TF1.

Striker Antoine Griezmann said: “Frankly, personally, it’s not real yet. This cup weighs a lot.”

“We are trying to give a good image for France, for French players. I hope that lots of young people will have seen this match and do the same,” he added.

Macron had already celebrated with the team on Sunday — even doing “dab” dance moves with players in a video that has gone viral — after attending the final in Moscow.

Some analysts believe the 40-year-old centrist will benefit from the feel-good factor sweeping France, with Macron able to show a common touch after months of criticism from his opponents that he is distant and elitist.

Commentators have also focused on the outpouring of patriotism and sense of national unity created by the multi-ethnic French team, many of whose stars including Pogba and Mbappe hail from deprived and often overlooked suburbs of Paris.

– ‘Together for life’ –

In Paris, the metro system has temporarily renamed six of its stations in honour of the key players, with the Victor Hugo stop — named after the famed 19th-century writer — becoming Victor Hugo Lloris after the team’s goalkeeper.

Two stations were rebaptised in tribute to Deschamps, who captained the national side to its first World Cup victory, won on home soil in 1998.

“There are two things that matter — one is that these 23 players are now together for life, whatever happens, and also that from now on they will not be the same again, because they are world champions,” a champagne-soaked Deschamps said Sunday.

Macron will be relieved that joyous and occasionally chaotic celebrations across the country on Sunday night passed off without any major incident following a string of terror attacks in France since 2015 that have claimed nearly 250 lives.

There were 292 people arrested nationwide and isolated clashes between police and rowdy crowds in Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

Some 31 people, including eight minors, had their detention extended on suspicion of involvement in incidents in Paris during the victory celebrations, a Paris prosecutor said late Monday.

But it was calm at the parade, where Antoine Guyot, 39, took a selfie with his son in his arms in front of a huge French flag hanging from the Arc de Triomphe.

“I was here in ’98, I’m here today and I’ll be here in 2022,” he said.///AFP

As the final whistle was blown with the score 4-2 in France’s favour against Croatia, the ambassador along with supporters – both French and Thai – who gathered at Central Plaza to watch the game were in jubilant mood, just like Les Bleus fans around the rest of the world.

“It was a very beautiful game for both sides. The French team are very talented,” Garachon said with joyful emotion.

The win marked France’s second World Cup victory, the first being on home soil two decades ago when current national coach Didier Deschamps was still a player.

Three of France’s goals were scored by Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, while the other was an own goal by Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic.

“I admire the goals they made a lot. They were excellent, very precise and technically perfect,” added the French envoy, who picked talent and a bit of luck as the two keys behind the victory.

“In football you need to have two main ingredients, if I may say so. One is talent and the other one is luck. We had both. It’s been a great European World Cup, with France, Croatia and Belgium finishing as the top three,” added the ambassador, who has served in Bangkok since October 2015.

Garachon also paid compliments to the young guns of the French team, especially Mbappe, his favourite player.

The 19-year-old is the youngest player to score in a World Cup final since Pele in 1958.

“I love Mbappe as he is just 19 but he runs extremely fast. When he shoots, it’s marvellous. This young man is very talented,” he explained.

The ambassador was also impressed to have got a glimpse of the local support for France’s football team, with many Thais coming to join him on Sunday night at Groove@CentralWorld, where the art of French living “Bonjour France” fair took place.

“I chose to be in among the public on Sunday as I wanted to be surrounded not only by French football lovers, but also by Thai supporters and as many international football fans as possible.

“I know there’s strong support for France in Thailand, but to see it with my own eyes was really rewarding. I’m grateful for all the Thai support,” said Garachon, adding that he believed the World Cup triumph would mean there was more confidence in and a good image for his country.

France won 4-2 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday, with star men Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe all scoring as they lifted the trophy for the second time in their history.

They are the first team to score four times in the final since Pele’s great Brazil side beat Italy 4-1 in Mexico in 1970, and the match was the highest-scoring World Cup final since England’s 4-2 victory against West Germany back in 1966.

It was achieved with a brilliantly talented set of players, embodied by 19-year-old Mbappe, not even born when France last won it in 1998 and now the youngest player to score in a World Cup final since Pele in 1958.

French President Emmanuel Macron celebrates during the trophy ceremony.

He had already lit up this tournament with his electric performance against Argentina, scoring twice in his side’s 4-3 win in Kazan in the last 16.

However, these two high-scoring encounters do not provide an accurate picture of the way Deschamps’ team have played in this competition.

In their five other games they scored a total of six goals, including two Griezmann penalties and one own goal. They were also involved in the only goalless draw of the tournament, against Denmark in their last group outing.

Against Croatia, Griezmann’s penalty that gave them a 2-1 lead in the 38th minute came from their first shot on goal of the game, with their opener a Mario Mandzukic own goal. France finished with just 39 percent of the possession.

With a shrug, Deschamps asked after the game: “Are France beautiful champions? Well, we are world champions and will be on top of the world for four years.”

This picture taken from the top of the Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomphe) on July 15, 2018 shows people lighting flares as they celebrate France’s World Cup victory.

– Constant progress –

Deschamps has regularly been criticised throughout this competition, and throughout his six-year reign in charge, for his style of football. Yet this win follows the near miss of Euro 2016, when as hosts they lost in extra time to Portugal in Paris.

Deschamps became France’s longest-serving coach during this tournament, and the progress has been constant since he took charge in 2012 and took the team to the quarter-finals at the 2014 World Cup, losing to eventual winners Germany.

This time, while the Germans went out in the group stage, France went all the way.

Deschamps has always been a winner, going back to his playing days when he captained France to glory at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 and won the Champions League with Marseille and Juventus.

He is now only the third man in history to win the World Cup as both a player and coach after Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and German Franz Beckenbauer.

“I have never seen or experienced a World Cup like this one. There was a levelling off towards the top, and the so-called smaller teams came in so well prepared physically,” he said as he defended his reactionary style.

“They hurt the countries who I always remember as being the strongest. The teams who had most control in terms of possession were practically all punished by quick attacks.

“In football if you know how to defend well, you can be sure that you will get at least two or three chances on the counter-attack or from set-pieces.”

He added: “Against Denmark we were not very nice to watch. That would not have been enough had we kept playing like that, but we managed to keep raising our game.”

Had France fallen short in Russia, there would have been a growing clamour for the French Football Federation to approach Zinedine Zidane, a free agent since leaving Real Madrid.

But now Deschamps will surely stay in the job as long as he wants it, with his contract running until 2020.

“The plan is that I stay so I am going to stay,” he told French radio station RTL.

Thidapa or “Junior” thrust herself into title contention with an eagle-birdie finish at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, carding a final-round 65 for a 14-under par total of 270.

She could only wait and watch for more than an hour as Lincicome and overnight leader Brooke Henderson of Canada tussled for the lead, Lincicome closing with a four-under par 67 for 270 as Henderson settled for a 69 that left her in third place on 271.

“Pretty much I just chilled out,” Thidapa said of the wait, after which she just told herself, “I just had to do it and make the win.”

The 25-year-old, who chipped in for eagle at the par-five 17th then birdied the par-five 18th in regulation, put her tee shot at the first playoff hole — the 18th — in the fairway as Lincicome found a fairway bunker.

Lincicome then blasted into the water hazard, as Thidapa put her third shot five feet from the pin.

Lincicome kept the pressure on as best she could, rolling in a six-foot putt to save par, but Thidapa calmly made her birdie putt for a long-awaited first victory.

“I never expected it was going to be today at all,” said Thidapa, a Ladies European Tour winner who had only two prior top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour.

“I’ve been struggling the whole year, trying to keep my tour card, trying my best. And finally all my work I’ve been doing has come out and shown today,” added Thidapa, who joined sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn as the only Thai players to win on the LPGA Tour.

With the win, Thidapa earned one of five places on offer this week in the Women’s British Open.

Lincicome, who started the day one shot behind Henderson, was tied for the lead at 14-under after her fourth birdie of the day at the 12th, where she rolled in a long, swinging putt.

Lincicome poised for PGA start

Henderson regained the solo lead with a birdie at 14 that moved her to 15-under, but the Canadian bogeyed 15 and 16 to fall one shot off the pace — the first time since Friday she hadn’t held or shared the lead.

With Thidapa in the clubhouse on 14-under, neither Lincicome nor Henderson could take advantage of the par-five 17th and 18th — Lincicome’s attempt to win it with a birdie at the 72nd hole circling inside the rim of the cup and popping out.

Lincicome will have little time to fret over the near-miss. On Thursday, she’s due to tee it up at the Barbasol Championship, where she’ll join the select group of women to play in a US PGA Tour event.

Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam became the first woman in 58 years to appear in a PGA Tour tournament when she played the Colonial in 2003, missing the halfway cut.

Michelle Wie later competed in a handful of PGA events, never making the cut. Other women to play in PGA Tour events were Babe Zaharias and Suzy Whaley.

World number 21 Djokovic added the 2018 title to his wins in 2011, 2014 and 2015 as he became the lowest-ranked champion since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001.

It also took his Slam total to within one of Pete Sampras and just four behind the 17 of Rafael Nadal who he defeated in the semi-finals.

Anderson, the eighth seed, was the first South African in the final in 97 years and was bidding to become the first man from his country to be crowned Wimbledon champion.

However, he had spent 21 hours on court getting to the final and that marathon effort came back to haunt him at the worst possible time despite a late rally when he had five set points in the third set.

Victory was 31-year-old Djokovic’s first at the majors since he completed the career Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2016.

It also came just a month after he threatened to skip Wimbledon after a quarter-loss exit in Paris and with his ranking at its lowest in over a decade.

Weary Anderson had needed five sets and saved a match point to beat Roger Federer in the last-eight.

He then played six hours and 36 minutes to defeat John Isner in the semis in the second longest singles match ever played at a Grand Slam.

It was hardly surprising that he suffered a dramatic power failure in the first two sets against a player who he had defeated only once in six previous meetings and that was 10 years ago.

Having arrived in the final with 172 aces to his name, Anderson managed just 10 on Sunday.

He also failed to convert any of his seven break points.

– Sluggish Anderson –

Anderson, sluggish in the 30-degree heat having played 21 hours at the tournament already, was broken on a double fault in the first game.

That set the tone and Djokovic broke again in the fifth game on his way to securing the opener.

The Serb conceded just three points on his serve.

In the first Wimbledon final featuring two players over 30, Anderson’s chances looked slim when he called for treatment on his upper right arm during the changeover.

It was far from the spectacle that the crowd and Royal Box — which included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prime Minister Theresa May as well as actors Hugh Grant and Benedict Cumberbatch — had anticipated.

The second set followed a familiar pattern, Djokovic breaking in the first and fifth games and fighting off the only break point he faced in the eighth game.

Late in the set, the exhausted Anderson’s total number of games played in his seven matches at Wimbledon set a new record for the most ever in one edition of the tournament.

Anderson battled in the third set where he had five sets but all were saved by Djokovic, who went to victory when the South African netted a return.