Worldsnooker has today  published the draw and format for the final stages of the Shanghai Masters 2016.

Click here for the draw

Click here for the format

Ronnie is due to play his first match on Tuesday 20 September at 7:30 pm local time; this would be early afternoon for us, Europeans. His opponent will probably be Liang Wenbo – who has to beat a wildcard first – and this is a match both players should enjoy as they both like to go for their shots.

Should Ronnie win this first match, he will play again on Thursday 22 September, again at 7:30 pm, and he could well face the defending champion Kyren Wilson!

Worldsnooker has today published this article, explaining where and when the qualifying rounds will take place for the Europan Masters 2016, played in Romania early October, and the International Championship 2016, played in China
end October.

Monday 5 Sep 2016 04:33PM

Click here for the European Masters draw

Click here for the International Championship draw

Click here for the qualifiers format

The draw and format for the qualifying rounds of the European Masters and International Championship at the Guild Hall in Preston are now available.

The European Masters qualifiers will run from September 26 to 28 with the winners to go through to the final stages in Bucharest next month. Matches 65 and 86 (selected by the promoter) in Round Two will be held over and played in Romania.

John Higgins won the International Championship last season

The International Championship qualifiers then run from September 29 to October 1 with the winners to go through to the final stages in China. Round One matches of defending champion John Higgins, World Champion Mark Selby and the two highest seeded Chinese players, Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo, will be held over and played in China.

The Guild Hall is one of snooker’s most iconic venues having hosted many tournaments including the UK Championship. And the multi-table set up gives fans the chances to watch several big matches during the same session.

Tickets cost just £5 per day – incredible value to see the best cue kings on the planet. BOOK NOW by calling 01772 80 44 44 or click here

The Preston Guild Hall is a venue with a great history and hopefully the players will appreciate it more than they do other qualifying venues.

Ronnie is due to play his first qualifying match for the European Masters, on Tuesday, 27 September 2016, at 7 pm (UK time), against Lyu Chenwei. Should he win it, he will play his second round match in Bucharest. Indeed, as explained in the article above, the promoter has requested to hold two second round matches to the venue, hoping of course for wins by Ronnie and Mark Selby the World Champion in round 1.

Regarding the International Championship qualifiers, Ronnie will play his qualifying match on Thursday 29 September, at 7:30 pm, against the dangerous James Cahill.

Ronnie of course is due to play Mark Selby in Sofia, Bulgaria, on September 30 … this exhibition match, part of the Elven30 Series, has been scheduled for a very long time, and Worldsnooker was of course duly informed from the start. At the time nothing was scheduled on these dates. It’s nice to see that they took this commitment into consideration. Of course such high-profile exhibitions are good exposure for snooker and benefit to everybody. Mark Selby of course, being the World Champion will play his qualifying match at the venue in Daqing, so he was never going to have a problem …