6-Red Snooker National from December 29

In the absence of any Asian selection tournament by the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) this year, the Kolkata 6-Red Nationals, to be held here from December 29 at the Bengal Rowing club would be the sole qualifier, WBBA said.

The top two players of this tournament will be joining Pankaj Advani, a direct entry by virtue of being the current World 6-Red Champion, to represent India at the 2016 Asian 6-Red Championship to be held in April 2016.

"We have received more than 170 entries from across the country as all the top-ranked players of India will be seen in action here," President of the West Bengal Billiards Association Pradip Saraogi said in a release.

The Championship will see the participation of players from all states as well as from the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board and the Railways Sports Promotion Board.

For the first time, double-elimination brackets will be used in place of straight knock-out. This will give players opportunity to come up from the loser's bracket in the event of losing his or her first match.

In the men's section, 144 players divided into 12 groups will play double elimination.

From each group, the last-four players will join the last year's top-16 players to make a total field of 64 players for the round-robin league.

In the Women's section, 19 players, divided into two groups, will play double elimination. From each group, the last four players will play straight knock out from quarter finals.