India's S Chikkrangappa, who failed to make his card in the Asian Tour Qualifying School last year, is leaving nothing to chance this time as he added a second successive 66 in the Final stage to take a two-shot lead after two rounds.
It was a fairly good day for Indians as five of them progressed beyond the cut.
Lying seventh was Himmat Rai (70-67), former Hero Indian Open winner C Muniyappa (71-67) was tied 12th, while Angad Cheema (69-71) and Abhijit Chadha (71-69) were tied 22nd.
Chikka, winner of the inaugural Take Solutions ADT event in India last year, fired eight birdies against two bogeys to lead on his own while Australian Paul Spargo stayed two shots back in second place following a 69.
Sweden's Daniel Chopra (68-67), who grew up in India shared the third place with last year's Qualifying School winner Akinori Tani of Japan, who played at the par-71 Springfield Royal Golf Club, on 135.
Lee Chieh-po of Chinese Taipei signed in for a three-under 69 with a two-day total of seven-under 136 to sit in fifth place with overnight co-leader Danthai Boonma of Thailand at the par-72 Imperial Lakeview Golf Club.
A total of 102 players from the top-100 and ties after the second round successfully progressed to the final two rounds which will be played only at Springfield Royal.
The top-40 and ties will earn an Asian Tour card for the 2015 season after the final round.
Himmat, a former winner on Asian Tour, edged closer to regaining his Asian Tour card after posting a 67 at the Springfield Royal.
He is tied in seventh place with four other players on 137.
"I hit it nicely today. You have to keep your ball in play to score on these courses. The greens can be quite challenging on the front nine at Springfield Royal. You have to put the ball in the right positions because it's fairly undulating," said the 27-year-old Indian, who won the ISPS Handa Singapore Classic in 2011.
