Holder and national champion Alok Kumar would be defending his title in the Asian Snooker championship while five other Indians would also be seen in action in the tournament to be held at Pune's PYC Gymkhana from July 3 to 10.

Besides Alok, the Indians, who have made it to the tournament, are IBSF world billiards champion Pankaj Advani [Images] - who had finished second behind Kumar at the last edition of the Asian championship, Manan Chandra, Devendra Joshi, Yasin Merchant and Aditya Mehta.

Derek Sippy of The Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra - which conducted the qualifiers at the Chembur Gymkhana here last week - today said the selection was made as per the combined points logged by the players at the last nationals and in the recent qualifiers.

The final combined position: 1. Alok Kumar 6848 pts (4000 in nationals, 2848 in Asian qualifiers); 2. Pankaj Advani 5511 (3204, 2307); 3. Manan Chandra 5361 (2161, 3200), 4. Devendra Joshi 5289 (3560, 1729); 5. Yasin Merchant 5173 (2610, 2563); 6. Aditya Mehta 4972 (2884, 2088), 7. Neeraj Kumar 3944 (2362, 1582); 8. Rupesh Shah 3867 (1977, 1890).

Neeraj Kumar and Shah have not made the grade as India could field one direct entrant and five other players as hosts.

Manan Chandra, the Delhi [Images] cueist spoken of highly by former world amateur billiards champion Michael Ferreira who was one of the Indian Billiards and Snooker Association's observers along with Manoj Kothari, finished on top of the heap in the qualifiers by winning five out of seven matches.

Chandra lost to Alok and former Asian champion Yasin Merchant.