Only four players remain on course to earn a professional tour card via the Asia-Oceania Q-School: Chau Hon Man (35) from Hong Kong, Wang Yuchen (25) and He Guoqiang (22) from China (*) and Ishpreet Chadha (?) from India. Two of them will turn – or re-turn – professional tomorrow.
I’m glad none of them is a young kid.
The overall level of the Asia-Oceania Q-School has been considerably higher this year than it was last year. The presence of a strong Chinese/Hong Kongese contingent has certainly contributed to that.
The Thai hosts deserve a lot of credit for their efforts to promote the event. A lot of matches were streamed; actually, in the latter rounds all matches were streamed. As a fan I really appreciate that.
Having Q-School events in Asia is a good move, a necessary move given the interest there is for the game in the continent. Is it enough? I’m not sure. In particular, to my knowledge, there is no “order of merit” list for the Asia-Oceania Q-School. The “order of merit” for the UK/European Q-School is used to offer opportunities to those who performed well but didn’t qualify for the main tour to play in professional events when less than 128 professionals entered. With a return of events in China, why not offer a similar opportunity to those who performed well in the Asia-Oceania Q-Schools? The reason I’m afraid is obvious… it’s the UK centric nature of the whole organisation of the main tour. With qualifiers played in the UK, for all events, including those in China, it would be extremely costly for those Asian players to travel to the UK to try to qualify for their “home” events, especially as, should they lose, they would get nothing for their efforts. This whole system is unfair. I’ll say it again: there should be NO qualifiers. All events involving 128 players should be played from round 1 at the final venue, no matter where that is. If the venue can’t accommodate 128 players, then the first round(s) could be played at a different venue but ALWAYS close to the “main venue”. That’s especially true when local “wildcards” are invited. It makes absolutely no sense to invite them if the local fans don’t get the opportunity to watch them and held-over matches are often a logistic nightmare.
(*) Wang Yuchen occasionally plays for Hong Kong as well.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
that is around£1000 ticket (just searched Cathay Pacific, £944, econ class, back and forth, LondonShanghai, not sure if the cue is included) for a China tournament. Hotel somewhat like £50~£100/day.
And according a relegated amateur, Ding’s academy charges £8000 a year. (should be with accommodation?)
If the tour is not changing(sponsoring), it is losing a big money going outside UK losing R1, especially ex-pats.
Yes it’s not cheap but the way it is, it’s completely unfair. UK young players can live with their family for free if they so wish, the others have to travel a lot – the Belgians travel for each tournament – or live in the UK, away from family and friends which is costly and taxing on their mental health. The UK players have the option to work to supplement their incomes, the others can’t as their visa only permits them only to play snooker. The UK players don’t have to deal with daily communication in a foreign language which makes thing easier for them when they need to deal with administrative tasks, go to the doctor, the shops, or simply deal with WPBSA/WST. Everything favours the UK players. The usual “excuse” is that they are the majority. Has it ever occurred to those who say that, that they may well be the majority BECAUSE of that constant bias in their favour. Don’t you think that Chinese players would rapidly becoming the majority if every tournament was, at least in part (qualifiers), played in China? How do you think the British players would cope, mentally, if they had to live in China, away from their family? How would they cope if the had to learn Mandarin or Cantonese to be able to survive in every day’s life (shopping, doctors, socialising…). You know the answer: very few would cope and within a couple of years the tour would become 90% Asian. They call themselves WORLD tour. This UK centric organisation has to disappear and evolve into a fair, truly international Sports body.
Wang Yuchen won the Asian U21 title in 2016 to earn his first tour card. After relegation he went off to university in Hong Kong, and has been trying to return since the pandemic, practicing in the Hong Kong academy. He came close to qualifying in Auckland, but was blown away by Liu Hongyu. He’s battled through some close matches this week, and was a bit lucky against the 16-yeard old Gong Chenzhi.
Wang actually beat Ispreet Sharma in his U21 final, which makes Sharma about the same age. In fact, quite a lot of the A/O Q School participants played in that event, including Cheung Ka Wai, who yesterday lost to Chau Hon Man, a player he nodoubt beats every day in the Hong Kong academy. The HK academy produced 5 of the last 8 players in Q School, but it’s funding is due to be cut. Sadly, the hugely talented Cheung might have missed his best chance to get on tour.
He Guoqiang won 4-0, and would be a dangerous opponent on tour. He’s a heavy scorer, who had some personal problems a few years ago, but reappeared to win the Haining Open last year.
Sorry – Wang beat Sharma in his semi-final in 2016. In the final he beat Yotharuk, a young Thai player whose time as a professional was wrecked by a fire at his house in Sheffield… He quit snooker shortly after that, and suffered a serious motorcycle accident in Bangkok.
I’m not surprised about Wang’s story. As I already explained, I met him in Yixing in 2012. He was the only one amongst the young Chinese players who was fluent in English. The others actually didn’t speak a word of it… He had just turned 15 and was very mature. He had told me that his family is from Hong Kong and that his father insisted that his education should be the priority and that going to University should be his goal. So, what you write doesn’t surprise me. He has improved as this week unfolded which pleases me. He’s been very patient and determined. He’s not the most talented of the China/Hong Kong contingent but he’s probably better equipped than most to face the challenges brought by living as an ex-pat in the UK.
Totally agree with the sentiment about qualifiers – which are in fact Round 1.
Especially now with the £20k guarantee which can pay travel expenses.
And I will repeat my favourite rant – Q School is outdated, unfair and should be abolished.
Yes but £20k won’t go very far if they have to pay for flight and hotels from Round 1. OK, young British players can live with their parents to save money, or supplement their income with jobs, but overseas travel is very expensive at the moment.
Yes it’s costly and that’s why the calendar should be structured differently. The Asian events should be grouped to minimise the number of long haul flights. Agreement should be sought with Asian academies to ensure quality practice is available. Deals should be sought for reasonably priced accommodations close to the venues. And I mean REAL deals, not like some deals agreed by WST with hotels in York a few years back and the prices were actually higher that what you could get – with the option to cancel for free up to two days before your stay – on booking.com. The UK players will no doubt moan that it will be weeks away from home. Right guys, no sympathy from me, for everyone else, for years, it’s been months in a row, for some years in a row, away from home. If they dealt with it, you can too.