In Tamilnadu, Russian Consulate General Nikolai Listopadov and actor Prabhu inaugurated the 78th National Billiards and Snooker Champion ships in Chennai on Monday. The championship has attracted a record number of 830 entries. Tamilnadu Billiards and Snooker Association president Mr.Arun Pandian today said that 1,300 matches would be conducted in 23 days. Players from Meghalaya and Jharkand would be participating in the Green Baize extravaganza being organized by the Tamil Nadu Billiards and Snooker Association (TNBSA). The Sub-junior boys and girls Billiards and Snooker Championships begins today and continue till the 21st. This would be followed by Junior Girls event from July 20 to 22 and the 20th Ladies Nationals from July 20 to 25. The Junior boys event would be held from July 26 to 30. However, the big action will commence on July 24 when senior billiards and snooker championships would be held. This event will conclude on August 9. Some of the renowned cueists like Pankaj Advani, Geet Sethi, Alok Kumar, Asian gold winners Yasin Merchant and Rafath Habib, Siddarth Rao, Dhruv Sitwala, Ashol Shandilya, Manan Chandran, five times national snooker title winner S Vidya Pillai, Two time World Billiards champion Chitra Magimairaj would be seen in action.