This is WST report on day 5 at the 2023 British Open

Saengkham Secures Cheltenham Slot

Noppon Saengkham scored a 4-1 win over tour rookie Xing Zihao at Cazoo British Open qualifying in Leicester to seal his place in the final stages.

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World number 26 Saengkham made the semi-finals of last year’s event, but was denied a place in the final after a 6-1 loss at the hands of Mark Allen. Today’s result sees the Thai earn a return to the main event. After losing the first frame, Saengkham crafted breaks of 52 and 72 on his way to four on the bounce and victory.

Welshman Daniel Wells produced a sublime spell to come from behind and beat former Welsh Open champion Jordan Brown 4-3. Wells trailed 3-2, before firing in breaks of 136 and 115 to take the final two frames and snatch victory.

China’s Lyu Haotian looked impressive in a 4-1 win over Englishman David Lilley. He produced contributions of 72, 74, 70 and 60 on his way to victory.

Malaysia’s Thor Chuan Leong scored a fine 4-1 win over Swiss number one Alexander Ursenbacher, while world number 72 Sanderson Lam registered a surprise 4-2 win over two-time ranking event winner Joe Perry.

As usual some matches are missing, and as usual you will find all the results on snooker.org

I really do struggle to understand why some matches are not reported on.

Wu Yize beat Martin Gould by 4-2 in the early afternoon, despite Martin score the two highest breaks of the match – 114 and 74 – in the two frames he won. Matthew Stevens whitewashed Victor Sarkis who only scored 41 points in the whole match. Zak Surety defeated Michael White by 4-2 in the last match of the day. It wasn’t that late though, not yet 10 pm local time so that can’t be the reason for the omission. It’s true that is was a forgettable performance from both. Zak played OK in patches, Michael was poor from start to finish.

The World Open in Yushan announced for March 2024

Snooker’s Resurgence In China Continues With Yushan To Stage World Open

WST and our partners in China are excited to announce that the World Open ranking event will be staged in Yushan in March 2024.

This will be the fourth WST event staged in China during the 2023/24 season, following September’s Shanghai Masters, October’s Wuhan Open and November’s International Championship in Tianjin.

The World Open will run from March 11 to 17 and will be held in Yushan in the Jiangxi Province, which was the tournament’s home from 2016 to 2019. Judd Trump is the most recent winner of the title, beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the final in 2019.

WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “We are delighted to join forces with Star Xingpai, Yushan Municipal Government and CBSA to stage the World Open in Yushan in 2024.

“Having been unable to stage tournaments in mainland China between 2019 and 2023 due to travel restrictions, we have made an emphatic return this season. To have four major Chinese events in our first full season back in the Far East underlines the huge appetite for snooker in China and the fact that we have built lasting relationships with our key partners.

“Snooker’s future in China is bright and this is just the beginning. The World Open is a fantastic tournament in an outstanding location which has particular significance for snooker as it is the home of Star Xing Pai and the world’s first Billiard Sports City.

“This title was won by four greats of our sport – Ali Carter, Ding Junhui, Mark Williams and Judd Trump – between 2016 and 2019. I have no doubt that all of the biggest stars will keenly anticipate the chance to return to Yushan in 2024.”

Full details on the tournament will be announced in due course.

It’s good to have a fuller calendar again, although I find its structure quite unsatisfactory and you know my stance on qualifiers. I wish WST were putting as much effort in trying to have more events in mainland Europe.

Our reigning World Champion, Luca Brecel is Belgian, last season’s “Rookie of the year” Julien Leclercq is Belgian, yet we have only two events in mainland Europe, both in Germany… I think that Belgium deserves an event. When in 2013, the 3-Cushions World Championship was held in Antwerp, in the Loto Arena, the main sponsors were the local Diamonds Industry and, on top of the prize money, the winner was offered a cue encrusted with diamonds that in itself was worth a fortune. Why wouldn’t WST be able to secure a good deal as well?

And, in Brussels, directly reachable by Eurostar or by plane were have a huge capacity round arena, “Forest National” . Has this ever even been considered?