CHRIS MELLING starts the defence of his Embassy World Pool championship this weekend.

The 10-day long competition started in Blackpool yesterday (Thursday) and Chris has his sights on becoming the first champion to retain his title.

"I'm going there to win, but I have a tough start to the competiton. If I get through the first round I have drawn either the Northern Ireland Champion or the Scottish Champion," he said.

But Melling was given a boost in the run-up to the Embassy event following a series of exhibition matches throughout Ireland.

"I also took part in a Pro-Am competition which I lost in the final last year. This time I beat the Northern Ireland Champion 9-1 to win the trophy."

He has also qualified for the International Masters Competition which he won last year.

After being crowned World Champion he has enjoyed an incredible year and finished with a series of 31 exhibitions around England on behalf of the sponsors.

"It was a superb series of events playing 20-30 opponents a night. The best session was in Kendal where the pub was packed to capacity and I played a total of 49 frames in two hours," Chris said.

After the World 8-Ball Championship he is also looking forward to the World 9-Ball competition in which he beat snooker legend Steve Davis last year.