Apparently I only had to ask for it! 😉
BETVICTOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE DRAW
The draw for the season opening BetVictor Championship League has been made, with the likes of newly crowned World Champion Kyren Wilson, defending champion Shaun Murphy and seven-time Crucible king Ronnie O’Sullivan in the mix for the first ranking title of the campaign.
The event runs from Monday June 10th until Wednesday July 3rd, with each day of play seeing two groups of four being contested.
Wilson will make his first appearance on the World Snooker Tour since capturing Crucible glory, when he faces Scott Donaldson, Baipat Siripaporn and Daniel Womersley on June 20th.
Murphy begins the defence of his title on the June 27th against Tian Pengfei, Reanne Evans and Steven Hallworth, while O’Sullivan is grouped with He Guoqiang, Mitchell Mann and Kayden Brierley on June 25th.
BETVICTOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE DRAW
BETVICTOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE MATCH SCHEDULE
As you would expect, a number of top players are giving this one a miss: Mark Allen, Luca Brecel, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui amongst others. More surprising are the absences of Jimmy White and Ken Doherty, Jimmy because he usually plays in everything available, Ken because he could really do with some ranking points … unless, maybe, he’s considering other options for the future. And, of course no Hendry…
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
https://yle.fi/a/74-20092100
https://x.com/CuePowerBlog/status/1798433403265585663
Kyren Wilson is in Group 1 and on Table 1, but isn’t actually opening the tournament and season as the World Champion. Neither does Shaun Murphy as the defending champion. He is competing on the last day instead. Looks extremely weird.
https://x.com/TSnooker102/status/1798433510270587008
https://x.com/ronnieo147/status/1798325326155747482
https://x.com/raninen/status/1798399421555896402
https://x.com/CuePowerBlog/status/1798428069289775606
https://x.com/CuePowerBlog/status/1798388970029793497
https://x.com/TSnooker102/status/1798404015337636105
https://x.com/Snookerlegends/status/1798388229483409831
https://x.com/TSnooker102/status/1798400071781994730
https://x.com/Snookerlegends/status/1798409669221732513
Gary Wilson 6-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan next stop: v John Higgins Friday & Saturday.
Since then, WST have announced the incomplete list of pros for 2024/25.
https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/june/05/tour-players/
Doherty and Hendry aren’t on there and it says ITCs are still to be confirmed.
There’s only 125 names on the list despite last week’s announcement saying all 128 had been invited.
Mark King is nowhere to be seen on the latest list and who knows where they will put him if he’s found innocent.
I vaguely remember that Ken Doherty said he wanted to stop and would not ask for another invitation card.