The 2025 UK Championship Qualifiers concluded yesterday and the draw for the “main event” was made as well.

Here is the outcome of the draw as reported by WST:

Victorian Plumbing UK Championship 2025: Last 32 Draw

Judd Trump will face Stephen Maguire when he gets the defence of his Victorian Plumbing UK Championship title underway in York on Saturday at 1pm.

The random draw for the last 32 as been made, with the 16 seeds picked out against the 16 qualifiers. World number one Trump faces a tough test against 2004 UK Champion Maguire on the opening afternoon at the Barbican.

World Champion Zhao Xintong will meet Long Zehuang on Monday at 1pm, while eight-time UK Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will take on Zhou Yuelong on Tuesday at 1pm. The full draw is:

Judd Trump v Stephen Maguire

Si Jiahui v Ryan Day

Ding Junhui v Xu Si

Mark Allen v Scott Donaldson

———–

Mark Williams v David Gilbert

Xiao Guodong v Pang Junxu

Wu Yize v Michael Holt

Neil Robertson v Julien Leclercq

———–

Kyren Wilson v Elliot Slessor

Barry Hawkins v David Lilley

Mark Selby v Lei Peifan

Ronnie O’Sullivan v Zhou Yuelong

———–

John Higgins v Ben Woollaston

Shaun Murphy v Lyu Haotian

Gary Wilson v Zhang Anda

Zhao Xintong v Long Zehuang

The tournament runs from November 29 to December 7 in York. The draw and results will be available on snooker.org, as always.

Eight of the 16 qualifiers are from outside the UK/Ireland. Seven of them are Chinese, the eighth one is Julien Leclercq from Belgium, the only qualifier from mainland Europe, and the lowest ranked player in the draw. Julien is currently ranked 79 . He’s drawn against Neil Robertson, not an easy draw but not the worse either.

Vas-y Juju!

All the results from the qualifiers are available on snooker.org.

Here is the report shared by WST on the last days of qualifiers

Leclercq Makes York Breakthrough

Julien Leclercq reached the last 32 of a Triple Crown event for the first time as he beat He Guoqiang 6-4 in the final qualifying round of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.

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Nicknamed the Belgian Beast, 22-year-old Leclercq can look forward to an intriguing clash with three-time UK Champion Neil Robertson at the York Barbican on Sunday afternoon. 

After turning pro in 2022, Leclercq reached the final of the Shoot Out in his first season and was named Rookie of the Year. Since then he has had only a handful of deep runs and currently lies 81st in the world, but is now through to the last 32 of a ranking event for the fifth time and he is thrilled by the prospect of playing on a televised table at snooker’s second-oldest ranking event. 

“I can’t wait to play at the Barbican, it will be amazing especially as I have never played Neil before,” he said. “Last year I lost on Judgement Day (to David Gilbert) so I am very happy to win this time. I had trouble with my focus tonight because I have been sick all week and not sleeping well. But in the last two frames I made good breaks.” 

Leclercq eased into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 66, 103, 63 and 58, then after the interval China’s He stormed back to 4-4 with a top run of 120. But Leclercq finished strongly with 88 and 70. 

Wins for Zhang Anda, Lei Peifan and Xu Si mean that 12 of the 32 players in York will be Chinese, a record for a Triple Crowd event.  

Zhang, who made a 147 at the Barbican last year, earned his return with a 6-4 win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Breaks of 89, 75 and 63 helped Zhang to a 5-1 lead, and he eventually sealed the result in frame ten with a run of 58. 

“Thepchaiya didn’t play well at the start of the match and gave me chances, I made some good breaks,” said Zhang, who now meets Gary Wilson. “Before it was only Ding Junhui, now we have many more good Chinese players. Wu Yize and Xiao Guodong have already won titles this season and I hope my second one is coming soon.”  

Scottish Open champion Lei beat Jimmy Robertson 6-5 in a high quality match, making breaks of 50, 59, 72, 122 and 54 as he earned a fixture with Mark Selby. “I didn’t play that well in the first half, after the interval I knew I needed to be more focussed, and I got myself back into the game,” said Lei. “I knew if I won I would play Selby and he’s one of my favourite players. I will try to be the best version of myself.“

Xu enjoyed a 6-3 victory over Tom Ford with a top run of 72. “Neither of us played at a high level, I just tried to be patient and wait for my chances,” said Xu, who now faces Ding Junhui. “Over the past few years, all of the Chinese players have improved a lot, we are moving in the right direction. I am really excited to play Ding, I hope I can enjoy the atmosphere.”

Nationalities of players at the Barbican

A dozen from China heading for York

China: 12
England: 12
Scotland: 3
Wales: 2
Australia: 1
Northern Ireland: 1
Belgium: 1

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