YANGON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Defending world champion along with four other former world champions will participate in the Asian Billiards and U-21 Asian Snooker Championships at Kandawgyi Palace Hotel here in April, the Yangon Times reported on Thursday.

    Competitors from 16 countries and region -- Bahrain, China's Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and host Myanmar -- will take part in the 7th Asian Billiards and 9th U-21 Asian Snooker Championships, scheduled on April 5-12, Myanmar Billiards and Snooker Federation (MBSF) said.

    Two billiards players and two snooker players each from one country can participate in the championships while host Myanmar is allowed five players each to compete in the continental competition, the MBSF said.

    The selected Myanmar billiards players are Kyaw Oo, Aung Htay, Aung San Oo, Nay Thway Oo and Min Si Thu Tun. Kyaw Oo, who is Myanmar's top billiard player, grabbed the billiards doubles title at the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand in December 2007 with compatriot Aung San Oo the second consecutive time, and he also finished third at the 36th World Billiards Championship in Singapore in September the same year, it said.

    Myanmar is one of the billiards powerhouses of Asia, having a long history of good results in international billiards tournaments.

    Aung San Oo triumphed in the 2006 Asian Billiards Championship and Aung Htay was last year's Asian billiards bronze medallist.

    Myanmar's major opponents will be competitors from India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as they have some world class players who have won world champion titles in recent years and India appears to be the toughest opponent, said Kyaw Oo last month, adding that "we are used to competing with them and I believe we can achieve some good results at the tournament."

    At the World Billiards Championship in Singapore last year, Kyaw Oo beat Pankaj Advani, former world champion of India, in the knockout stage and Peter Gilchrist, defending Asian Billiards Champion and former world billiards champion, in the quarter finals, while Nay Thway Oo also defeated Peter Gilchrist.

    The selected Myanmar snooker players who will participate in the championships are Naing Lin Thu, Hein Lwin Moe, Win Khaing, YeZaw Htut and Zaw Win Cho.

    The MBSF has got 16 medals -- three gold, seven silver and six bronze -- from the international competitions from 1997 to 2007, grabbing one bronze from World Championship, one gold, one silver and three bronzes from Asian Billiards Championships, two silvers and one bronze from Asian Games and two golds, four silvers and one bronze from SEA Games.