Briton Chris Law yesterday became a late entry for the King Edward VII Gold Cup -- but match racing's former world number two will have to do it the hard way if he is to pick up his first title in Bermuda.

Law, who took part in the Admiral's Cup in Cowes recently, was originally named to participate in the tournament which has been shorn of most of its top stars by America's Cup commitments.

But failure to get sponsorship forced him to pull out before the full list of skippers was made public.

And with the seedings set, he will now have to come through the qualifying event, despite, at number 12, being ranked above all but three of those who do not join the tournament until the first championship round on Wednesday.

Chief umpire John Doerr explained: "Chris showed a special interest in coming to Bermuda, he enjoys it here and the club wanted him because he helps the event. This year the Gold Cup has been hit because of the America's Cup and with the pre-Olympics taking part in Sydney at the same time.

"There couldn't be any changes because the seeded places had been sorted out and you couldn't push out one of them. It's one of those things. The Gold Cup is in essence two separate events -- the qualifiers and the championship -- and in this case Chris has just got to go through the qualifiers.'' Law, who will sail in the competition for international one design yachts with an all-Bermudian crew, has never won the Gold Cup, though he came closest three years ago when he was also unseeded, reaching the final where he lost to Peter Gilmour.

World number one Gilmour is one of the absentees this year, heading the Japanese challenge for the America's Cup.

Law's confirmation brings the number of unseeded sailors to eight, among them Bermudians Adam Barboza and Glenn Astwood, who qualified by finishing as the top two in the national championships last month.

The eight will compete against each other over Sunday and Monday with the final placings determining which seeded skipper they will take on in the best of five championship first round.

Sailing gets under way in Hamilton Harbour at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday.

Going for Gold: Britain's Chris Law has his sights set on a first Gold Cup triumph.