This is the report by WST on what happened yesterday at the 2025 ranking CLS played in Leicester:
Bingham And Slessor Dominate Groups
Stuart Bingham and Elliot Slessor both reeled off three wins out of three to reach the second phase of the BetVictor Championship League.
…
They will be among the 32 round one group winners in stage two which starts on July 18th in Leicester.
Former World Champion Bingham started Group 11 with a 3-0 win over Halim Hussain, making breaks of 83 and 102. He went on to beat Hatem Yassen 3-0 with top runs of 85 and 84, and finished the day with a 3-1 success against Antoni Kowalski, who finished second in the group having won his first two matches.
Slessor opened Group 17 with a 3-1 defeat of Mark Lloyd with a top break of 95. He then saw off Oliver Brown 3-0 and wrapped up the day with a 3-1 victory over Stan Moody, highlighted by a run of 113.
Play resumes on Monday with defending champion Ali Carter and Gary Wilson among those in action.
I have to confess that I couldn’t muster much interest for the snooker on offer yesterday, especially with Wimbledon and the Tour de France1 in progress as well. The only player I wanted to watch yesterday is Antoni Kowalski who did rather well, which pleased me.
Marco Fu has been named as the inaugural WPBSA Players’ Player of the Month by his fellow players following the launch of the new monthly award this season.
Launched by WPBSA Players, the Players’ Player of the Month award recognises outstanding performance, as voted by fellow players. Its key aim is to honour excellence, consistency, and impact on the table, as recognised by those who understand the demands of the game best.
Each month throughout the 2025/26 season a shortlist will be compiled by an independent panel. The panel includes renowned snooker broadcasters David Hendon and Abigail Davies, sports journalist Phil Haigh and WPBSA Players Director Tian Pengfei.
Fab Fu Honoured for June
Hong Kong China’s Marco Fu was selected as the inaugural Players’ Player of the Month following his successful double qualification for the final stages of the both the Wuhan and British Open tournaments which included five century breaks in the 15-frames he played across the two events.
Having received a new two-year invitational tour card at the start of the season, Fu’s first win came against world number 16 Chris Wakelin as he hit top breaks of 136, 120, 113 and 68 to book his place in Wuhan.
A repeat looked unlikely in his subsequent British Open qualifier against Stephen Maguire as he trailed 0-3, before the three-time world ranking event winner rebounded with runs of 140, 81, 104 and 54 to complete an impressive comeback and seal his place at the venue stages.
The 47-year-old won the honour, receiving 62% of the vote, ahead of England’s Reanne Evans and Louis Heathcote, who also won both of their qualification matches.
Players including David Grace, Stan Moody, Fergal Quinn and Bai Yulu were also considered for the final shortlist.
Fu said, “To be chosen as the first ever WPBSA Players Player of the Month for my performances at the qualifiers in June is a pleasant surprise indeed. The performances were a bit of a surprise too!
“To be recognised by my peers for these performances, is a real bonus to add to a solid start to the new season”.
Ken Doherty, WPBSA Players Chairman said: “Congratulations to Marco Fu on a great start to the season. Incredible performances in his opening two matches. He is, as voted by his fellow professionals, our first ever WPBSA Players Player of the Month!”
I’m not sure how long this initiative will “live” nor that it adds much to the sport, but, anyway…
Congratulations Marco Fu.
Belgium, as you may know is a country where cycling is BIG! ↩︎
Thank you Kalacs! No Ronnie, which I’m happy about. When he finally came back playing he said that he would give himself two years, and focus on the main tour, no more exhibitions. Hopefully that’s what he will actually do. It may not work but at least it would be a proper attempt.
I’m glad Ronnie is sticking to this. But at some point, it would be time to organise the finnish exhibition event with Higgins. It looks like his personal life is finally starting to get back on track which is good, very good.
Anyway there will be an another exhibition event right before the Shanghai Masters:
There are many choices of sport to watch in the UK currently with F1, Wimbledon, cricket and football taking place so the last thing I’d expect right thinking people to watch would be this event. It was devised by Hearn to skim money off for himself and won’t ever be off the calendar for that reason.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Another chinese exhibition during the weekend:
matches are here:
.
Thank you Kalacs! No Ronnie, which I’m happy about. When he finally came back playing he said that he would give himself two years, and focus on the main tour, no more exhibitions. Hopefully that’s what he will actually do. It may not work but at least it would be a proper attempt.
I’m glad Ronnie is sticking to this. But at some point, it would be time to organise the finnish exhibition event with Higgins. It looks like his personal life is finally starting to get back on track which is good, very good.
Anyway there will be an another exhibition event right before the Shanghai Masters:
There are many choices of sport to watch in the UK currently with F1, Wimbledon, cricket and football taking place so the last thing I’d expect right thinking people to watch would be this event. It was devised by Hearn to skim money off for himself and won’t ever be off the calendar for that reason.