The 2026 World Open will start next Monday in Yushan but without Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins and Chris Totten.

Selby, Hawkins And Totten Withdraw From World Open

Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins and Chris Totten have pulled out of next week’s World Open in China, all for medical reasons.

Selby was due to face Michael Holt in the last 64 on Tuesday March 17th, instead Holt receives a bye to the last 32.

Hawkins was due to meet Ian Burns on Tuesday so Burns also receives a bye to the last 32.

Totten was due to play Judd Trump in a first round heldover match, so Totten is replaced by the highest available player from the Q School top up list, Mark Lloyd.

The tournament runs from March 16-22 in Yushan.

As for Ronnie, going by pictures shared on Weibo, he’s already in China … where he’s probably safer than in Dubai right now.

2026 European Championships in Gandia, Spain.

This is a “set” of four events: Under-16, Under-18, Under-21 and Main Championship. The first three of those have been played to a conclusion.

The Under-16 event was won by Krzysztof Czapnik, a 15 years old from Poland. In the final, he beat Tadija Matijasevic, 15, from Serbia.

The Under-18 event was won by Michał Szubarczyk, 15 years old from Poland, In the Final he beat Valdislav Gradinari, 17, from Moldova.

The Under-21 event was won by Anton Kazakov, 21 years old from Ukraine. In the Final, he beat Riley Powells, 17, from Wales. This earned Anton a 2 years professional tour card, starting next season. Anton has been a pro before and his results were pretty poor. He was probably too young and not ready. Hopefully he does better this time. Also, the situation in Ukraine is rather worrying and that surely did not help young Anton.

As you can see, only one of the six junior finalists is British. So much for the myth that the UK centric nature of the World Snooker tour is somehow “justified” by the fact that the UK has the best players. They certainly DO NOT have the best young players and these are the future of the sport. I have said this before, The World Championship should travel the World, the Masters should probably move around as well and no more than five other events, the UK Championship and the home Nations, should be played in the UK. Mainland Europe deserves to have at least as many events as the UK. I know that part of the issue is the sponsoring, but it’s up to WST to work on that, and for that to succeed they will have to distance themselves from the “Betting Sphere”. Betting BTW should NEVER been promoted as it ruins lives, as surely as alcohol does. The life stories of the late Willie Thorne and John Virgo, as well as Mark King’s, are prime examples of what betting addiction can do to people. ¹

Some questioned Michał Szubarczyk right to play in these events, as he is currently a pro. But the events he entered didn’t clash with any WST event and didn’t “carry” a tour card for the winner. These are probably the reasons why he was allowed to play in them. He din’t participate in the Under-21 event, that did carry a tour card for the winner.

1. Me, personally, I have lost three colleagues to suicide during my professional life. One, a young woman, had been left disfigured and was in constant pain following a terrible car accident. The other two, young men, took their own life over betting debts. One of these two left behind a wife and three young children … ↩︎