"I would be taking part in a professional snooker tournament for the first time in India. I never expected this to happen in my lifetime. It's a dream come true," said the Mumbai-born Mehta, who won the gold medal at the World Games in Cali.
Mehta, who defeated China's Xiao Guo Ding to qualify for the tournament, faces the stiffest of challenges as he has 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon as his first round opponent in the 300,000 pound sterling prize fund event.
The other Indian in the world pro snooker circuit, Bangalore-based Pankaj Advani, was also keen to play at home for the first time in a pro event that has attracted World No.1 Neil Robertson, four-time world champion John Higgins and a clutch of Chinese players including last year's semi finalist in the world championship - Ding Junhui.
Six other Indians - Manan Chandra, Kamal Chawla, Sandeep Gulati, Shivam Arora, Faisal Khan and Dharmender Lilly have been given wild cards and would earn a berth in the main draw by beating six foreign players.
The winner would take home 50,000 pound sterling and among the players who have made the cut are: Robertson, Nippon Saengkham, Allison Carter, Liang Wento, Ding Junhui John Higgins, Joe Perry, James Wattana, Ken Doherty, Anda Zhang, Tony Drago, Marco Fu, Michael Holt, Nigel Bond, Ebdon, Mark Williams, Yu De Lu and Mark Selby.