A big couple of weeks are coming for the Women Snooker Tour with two events played in Thailand.
Here is the announcement, shared by WST:
Field Confirmed For World Women’s Snooker Championship
World Women’s Snooker (WWS) has today announced the snooker stars who are set to contest upcoming World Women’s Snooker Championship at the Hi-End Snooker Club in Thailand later this month.
To be held from 28 February – 4 March 2023, the tournament will once again offer direct access to the professional World Snooker Tour to this year’s champion, with world class players from 12 different countries set to descend upon Bangkok for the prestigious event.
Among those set to compete are each of the players ranked within the world’s top 10, and an impressive 17 of the top 20 in the draw. These include defending champion and home favourite Mink Nutcharut, England’s record 12-time world champion Reanne Evans and three-time winner Ng On Yee from Hong Kong.
Last season’s runner-up Wendy Jans – 14 times a European champion – and five-time finalist Maria Catalano will also join the field from the top tier, while Rebecca Kenna, Jamie Hunter, Tessa Davidson and Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan are all former semi-finalists at the elite event who will be hoping to go further in 2023.
In addition to the regular Tour competitors, the tournament will also welcome a number of highly regarded players who have either not competed regularly, or at all, in recent years. Among these are Thailand’s Waratthanun Sukritthanes, three times a quarter-finalist at the World Championship since 2017, but who has not been seen on the Tour since the 2019 edition at the same venue.
Likewise, the Tour is also delighted to welcome back India’s Vidya Pillai, who so memorably came within one ball of victory in the 2017 final against Ng On Yee following a marathon final in Singapore.
China’s Bai Yulu is also widely regarded as a player of impressive potential and the 19-year-old set to make her WWS debut next week.
There also strong fields set to contest the Under-21 and Seniors side-tournaments, which will be held alongside the main competition in Thailand for the first time. Both Ploychompoo Laokiatphong and Tessa Davidson will be aiming to defend their respective titles won last year in Sheffield, England.
WORLD CUP
The final field has also been confirmed for the second staging of the Women’s Snooker World Cup, with 12 teams set to contest the invitational tournament from 25-27 February.
Defending champions Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan and Waratthanun Sukritthanes are back to attempt the defence of their title, with further teams from England, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, India and Mongolia also among the field:
- Australia A – Lilly Meldrum / Anna Lynch
- England A – Reanne Evans / Rebecca Kenna
- England B – Jamie Hunter / Zoe Killington
- Hong Kong A – Ng On Yee / Ip Wan In Jaique
- Hong Kong B – Man Yan So / Ho Yee Ki
- India A – Amee Kamani / Anupama Ramachandran
- India B – Ishika Shah / Sanvi Shah
- Mongolia A – Bayarsaikhan Narantuya / Sergelenbaatar Byambasuren
- Mongolia B – Battogtokh Battuya / Bayarsaikhan Mungunchimeg
- Thailand A – Nutcharut Wongharuthai / Ploychompoo Laokiatpong
- Thailand B – Waratthanun Sukritthanes / Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan
- Thailand C – Panchaya Channoi / Phimchanok Phoemphul
The draw and match schedules for all four tournaments will be released via WPBSA SnookerScores in due course prior to the start of the event.
The presence of Bai Yulu is interesting indeed. She might prove a very strong candidate for the title if what transpired about her is true. This means that she could possibly get on the main tour via this route. Bai was starting to make some serious impact on 2019, before covid stopped about everything, particularly in China.
When the 2019 IBSF “junior” (boys Under-18 and boys and girls Under-21) Snooker Championship was held in the Olympic Center of Pingdu, Qingdao, Shandong Province, Bai Yulu who celebrated her 16th birthday during the event won the girls competition. She beat Mink by 6–1 in the final. She also reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 IBSF Women’s World Snooker Championship and made the three highest breaks of the tournament: 91, 81 and 78.
She was however prevented to compete in a number international events as she was deemed too young to travel alone. I may be wrong but I don’t thing such restrictions have applied to Chinese boys …
Other than that, the 2023 Players Championship in underway. I’ll cover that later after the first round concludes. I didn’t watch much at all of the action, not because Ronnie isn’t playing, but because my youngest daughter – who I hadn’t seen in the flesh for over 3 years – is visiting me on my island… Some of the biggest names are out already: Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Judd Trump all lost. The recent “form players” prevailed: Joe O’Connor, Robert Milkins, Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy all won.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 