Calcutta: Local favourite Sourav Kothari’s national billiards title defence gets tougher as he would have to cross the barrier in world champion Pankaj Advani in the National Billiards and Snooker Championship, which gets underway from Saturday, here, at the Bengal Rowing Club (BRC).

The tournament is back to Calcutta after 17 years and begins with the junior and sub-junior qualifiers.

Advani has been in roaring form, winning three world billiards titles — both in the time and points format, together with the team championship — last year without much trouble. Advani will land in the city on January 11 and play from the day after, the date the senior billiards main round begins.

An intense competition thus awaits Sourav, the top seed in senior billiards. “Look, it’s about how you play on a particular day especially when you take on a top player.

“Setting targets will only add to the pressure… It’s good if I defend the title successfully. If I can’t, it won’t be the end of the world,” Sourav said at the BRC, on Friday.

With the senior billiards final on January 17, the snooker main round will start from January 19. Advani, the defending champion, is the top seed in snooker. The likes of Kamal Chawla, B. Bhaskar, Brijesh Damani and Rupesh Shah will also be fighting for the top honour.

The tournament ends on January 24.