Bangalore, Nov 24 (IANS) Junior national champion Lalrina Lenthei and veteran Yasin Merchant have been given wild card entries and will join six other Indians, including former champion Pankaj Advani, in the IBSF World snooker championship to be held at the Karnataka State Billiards Association here from Nov 28 to Dec 3.

Lenthei and Merchant have been included in the Indian contingent in place of Aditya Mehta and Lucky Vatnani both of whom are currently playing on the professional circuit, according to Billiards and Snooker Federation of India secretary S.Balasubramaniam who addressed the Media here Wednesday.

The other Indians in the fray, apart from Advani, are: Kamal Chawla, I.H Manudev, Manan Chandra, Alok Kumar and Anuj Uppal.

Incidentally, Merchant has announced his decision to retire from the sport on conclusion of the World championship.

The KSBA will be hosting a World championship after a gap of 24 years, pointed out KSBA president C.Uthappa.

In all, players from 42 countries are expected to participate in the championship which the KSBA agreed to host in place of the originally scheduled six-red tournament following a plea by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation.

For the purpose, 16 tables besides four practice tables have been laid out at the KSBA premises, Uthappa said.