The Asian Billiards Championships will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 5 with 32 athletes from six countries.

Players will compete in the one- and three-cushion carom events. Winners will compete in this year's world championships in Potor , Portugal , in September.

Commentators are expecting fierce competition on July 5 among Japan , the Republic of Korea and Vietnam .

Dang Dinh Tien is top seed in the one-carom event. He won gold medals in the Asian Indoor Games in 2009 and Asian championships in 2010.

World No 16 Lee Chung-bok, of RoK, is top seed for the three-cushion carom. He won the 2010 Asian Billiards Championships.

Medal hopes among locals are world No 38 Duong Anh Vu, 2009 Asian Indoor Games silver medalist; world No 29 Ma Xuan Cuong, bronze medalist of the 2011; world No 150 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen who won gold in the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last year; Ma Minh Cam, 26th SEA Games gold medalist.

Other top RoK players are world No 7 Choi Sung-won, No 8 Kim Kyung-roul and No 9 Choi Jae-ho.

Billiards fans will also be able to enjoy a performance from legendary Turkish player Semih Sayginer, who won world titles in 1992 and 1998 and was voted World Player of the Year in 2003.-VNA