Kolkata, May 5 (IANS): India will host the world professional snooker championship next year, Billiard and Snooker Federation of India president P.V.K. Mohan said here Friday.

However, the venue was yet to be finalised.

Mohan was speaking at the inauguration of the maiden Kolkata Open National Invitation Snooker Championship being staged at the Hindustan Club May 6-9.

Leading players like nine times world billiards champion Geet Sethi, seven-times world champion Pankaj Advani, and Aditya Mehta, winner of Asian snooker championship in Doha, are among the competitors.

However, Advani's participation will be limited to a pro-am event May 5-6.

In the main tournament, Mehta, the reigning national snooker champion, has been clubbed in group A with Sourav Kothari, siddharth Parikh and Abbhishek Kedia.

Mehta will begin against Kedia Sunday.

Group B features Sethi, Kamal Chawla, Himanshu Jain and Rajesh Tulsian. Sethi takes on Jain in his first match Sunday.

Group C comprises Shahbaaz Adil Khan, Alok Kumar, Laxman Rawat and Manish Jain while Brijesh Damani, Manan Chandra, Devendra Joshi and Rohit Rajgharia are in Group D.

After a round robin format, the top two competitors from each group will make the cut for the quarter-final knock-outs. The final will be played May 9.