The 2026 World Open qualifiers concluded yesterday. All the results are available on snooker.org.

Here is the report shared by WST:

Ding At Risk Of Top 16 Exit After Fu Defeat

Ding Junhui’s 5-2 defeat against Marco Fu in the qualifying round of the World Open means that his next action will be in the World Championship in April – and he risks missing out on the Crucible.

Ding has not qualified for the Sportsbet.io Players Championship or Sportsbet.io Tour Championship and did not enter the BetVictor Welsh Open, and China’s most successful player now misses out on the final stages of the World Open in Yushan, a tournament he won in 2017.

He is currently 16th in the Race to the Crucible but can’t add to his tally over the next four counting events, so if he is overtaken by any player in the coming weeks then he will have to head to the qualifying rounds in Sheffield to fight for a place at the Theatre of Dreams.

Hong Kong’s Fu fired breaks of 86, 91 and 116 as he earned a place in Yushan in March.

Mark Selby was pushed all the way by Haydon Pinhey before battling to a 5-4 victory, while Jack Lisowski scored only his second win in a ranking event match since early November, beating Gong Chenzhi 5-2 with a top break of 115.

Stan Moody came from 4-3 down to edge out Jiang Jun 5-4, taking the deciding frame on the final black. Zhao Hanyang scored a surprise 5-3 win over Si Jiahui while Wu Yize top scored with 131 in a 5-2 defeat of Liam Pullen.

As usual, this report only covers a fraction of what happened in the last days … but Stan Moody is in it 😉

Ding having to qualify for the Crucible and possibly not making it is a bit of a shock because he has been a fixture in the top 16 for a very long time. But recently he’s not got good results, he’s not been playing well. At 38 he’s not that old . BUT, he’s been around for a long time, he’s been the flag bearer of snooker in China, he’s had to cope with huge expectations from a very young age. Maybe the hunger isn’t there anymore. Maybe other things in life are more important to him nowadays … He has a young family. Maybe he wants more time with them, maybe he wants to be there for his children as they grow up? That would only be normal and, if that’s what he wants and has enough money to support them, why wouldn’t he give them priority over his sport? He has nothing to prove.