Having served his ban, Zhao Xintong is back playing – as an amateur – and clearly determined to regain his tour card. Having won the previous Q-Tour event and made a 147 in the process, he repeated the feat(s) yesterday.
Following his recent triumph at the previous event in Sweden – during which he also made the first-ever 147 break at a Q Tour event – China’s Zhao repeated the feat by again making a sensational maximum break on his way to lifting his second consecutive Trophy on snooker’s premier amateur circuit.
The 27-year-old leaps to the top of the latest Q Tour Europe ranking list and moves into pole position to regain a place on the World Snooker Tour with three events still to be completed this season.
His path to victory was not straightforward as he survived deciding-frames in his opening two qualifying matches against William Lemons and Ant Parsons, before further wins against Arsenii Korolev, Lewis Ullah, Mark Joyce, Hamim Hussain, Oliver Sykes and Craig Steadman sealed his place in the title match.
He would await England’s Ryan Davies, who improved upon his previous best Q Tour result of two semi-finals to reach the final for the first time in his career.
The former English Under-21 champion saw off Daan Leyssen, Florian Nuessle, James Cahill, Sean O’Sullivan and Event 2 winner Dylan Emery to set up a meeting with Zhao.
Having starred throughout the final day with four century breaks including a magical 147 in the last frame of his quarter-final win against Oliver Sykes, Zhao won two of the opening three in the final to move halfway to the title.
A top score of 65 in frame four would take the former UK Championship winner to the brink of victory, before Davies responded with a match-high 66 to keep his hopes alive at 2-3.
Davies threatened to force a deciding-frame as he began the frame with a run of 35, but it was Zhao who made 56 of his own, before Davies failed to escape from a snooker on the final red and left a free ball from which Zhao would make no mistake, appropriately sealing the title after one hour and 47 minutes.
Zhao was the dominant player throughout the weekend at the Snookerhallen in the Swedish capital as he won eight matches and compiled eight century breaks, including the historic maximum, en route to the title.
The victory secures the 27-year-old Chinese cueist a spot at the 2024/25 Q Tour Global play-offs next year, where three World Snooker Tour (WST) two-year tour cards will be on offer.
As a non-seeded player, Zhao began the event on the Friday and he completed routine 3-0 wins against Belgium’s Daan Leyssen and Poland’s Michal Kotiuk to book his place in Saturday’s last 64 stage.
There he faced 14-year-old Shaun Liu from Hong Kong China, who gave the former UK champion a stern test early on in the contest – levelling the game at 1-1 with a half-century before taking frame three down to the final black.
Zhao was able to pot the decisive black to restore his lead before moving one away from victory in the best-of-seven frame contest at 3-1.
Frame five saw a moment of history on the Q Tour as the man from China compiled a magical maximum break, the first ever to be achieved on the Q Tour, before receiving rapturous applause from the watching audience at the Snookerhallen venue.
The powerful scoring continued from Zhao in the last 32, as he scored breaks of 111, 128 and 80 to defeat Luke Pinches confirm his place in the final day of a Q Tour event for the first time.
The 27-year-old began the final day in style with another century, this time a 118, as he overcame former professional Peter Lines 4-1 in their first competitive meeting since the last 16 of the 2021 UK Championship.
Whitewash victories over France’s Nicolas Mortreux and Poland’s Mateusz Baranowski followed to set up a final meeting with Craig Steadman, who defeated Alfie Davies, Peter Devlin and Steven Hallworth on the final day to reach the title match.
It was Steadman who had defeated Zhao 4-3 in the last 64 stage of the previous Q Tour Europe event in Sofia, Bulgaria last month and he once again provided the Chinese cueist with his toughest test of the tournament.
Trailing 2-0 after Zhao opened the match with a break of 112, Steadman hit back to restore party at 2-2 in a race to four.
A stunning break of 136, Zhao’s eighth century break of the event, moved him one frame away from the title but Steadman once again hit back with a 93 to force a final frame decider.
Ultimately, however, it was deservedly Zhao’s weekend as he wrapped up the victory with a break of 82.
Following his victory, Zhao said: “Coming to Sweden, I just wanted to get used to this feeling of playing in tournaments again. I wasn’t aiming to be the champion but I just wanted to get back to playing competitively again.
“I haven’t changed my practice schedule, I still practice as usual and play against professionals. I think my scoring in the last few days is within my capability and I know I can score well.”
Looking ahead, Zhao said: “I will select which events I want to play in on the Q Tour but right now it is all about getting that tournament feeling and I am pleased to be getting that feeling back.”
Zhao Xintong only returned to competitive snooker very recently. The first WPBSA event he played in after his ban ended was the 2024 Q-Tour Event 2. In that event, he had played three matches, losing to Craig Steadman in the last 64. Craig of course is a very experienced former professional and Zhao, certainly, wasn’t match sharp. Obviously he has been working hard since and this is the result.
Not everybody is happy to see Zhao back, but I am. Everybody makes mistakes and we have to remember that Zhao was not found guilty of match fixing. What he was found guilty of was to not report the match fixing schemes he was aware of and to bet on snooker. Now regarding the first of those two breaches of his contract, we have to consider two things. The first is that the younger players really felt threatened by Liang Wenbo and Li Hang. They were genuinely scared of them. Also, as Lewis has mentioned many times in the past, all those young players know each other since childhood. Because of the “one child per family” rule in operation in China back then, they are all “only children”, they have no siblings. Their childhood friends therefore are the closest they have to a brother or a sister. The “snooker kids” he grew up with are effectively his brothers. Therefore having to “grass on them” was a big no-no.
I’ m wishing Zhao the best and I hope to see him back on the main tour next season … that’s where he belongs. The tour needs players like him, who offer the fans an attractive brand of snooker and play with a smile on their face.
Congratulations Zhao and good luck for the future
Mink has won the 2024 Women Snooker Australian Open
World number one Mink Nutcharut has defeated Ng On Yee 4-3 following a thrilling final match to win the 2024 Australian Women’s Snooker Open for a second time at Mounties, Sydney.
Five years on from claiming her first ever title on the World Women’s Snooker (WWS) Tour, Mink repeated her success against friend and rival Ng with a dramatic black ball success to lift her first crown since the Belgian Open back in January.
Her eighth success overall, the victory sees the Thai star join Ng as a multiple Australian Open champion and consolidate her position at the top of the world rankings.
It was to prove a hard fought final day as having secured her place in the semi-finals with wins against Dianne Spring and Jessica Woods following the group stages, Mink was to face a stern test from Mongolia’s Narantuya Bayarsaikhan in the last four.
The world number 19 – who was competing in a ranking semi-final for the first time having defeated Yee Ting Cheung 3-2 in the quarter-finals – would lead Mink throughout their contest and was one ball away from securing a maiden final in the sixth frame.
Mink, however, was able to win a black-ball battle to force a last frame decider, during which she produced her best snooker of the match to ultimately prevail and reach her first final of the season.
There she would face world number two Ng On Yee, who had made serene progress to the final without the loss of a single frame and had notably top scored with a stunning break of 133 during the round robin group stages against Australia’s Christine Firth.
The title match would prove to be another match full of drama as the first four frames were shared, Mink scoring breaks of 50 and 43, with Ng compiling runs of 52 and 57 during the second frame.
From that point on the final would become a tense affair as both players saw the winning line, Mink first moving to within one of victory by winning a 50 minute long fifth frame, before Ng returned the favour in frame six to force a final frame decider.
Both players would ultimately have their chances, Ng unfortunate to pot a red from the blue during a composed first scoring visit, before the contest eventually came down to the final black to decide the champion. While both players would have opportunities, it was Mink who would sink the winning ball to seal her second victory in Australia and lift the Clive Edwards Memorial Cup.
The dramatic final was a fitting end to a week to remember in Sydney which saw a record 27 entries contest the main title at Mounties. As well as victory for top ranked Mink, the event also saw notable runs for Narantuya Bayarsaikhan and Thailand’s Narucha Phoemphul, who both reached their maiden ranking event semi-finals, with several further players also breaking new ground at the tournament.
The Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals saw Australia’s Kathy Blunden claim victory with a 2-0 success against China’s Shuangyu Jia.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful event. This includes our partners at the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council, led by President Alex Render, Tournament Director Frank Dewens and Head of Referees Gary Knight, as well as our host Mounties and event sponsor The Snooker Shop.
The 2024/25 season continues with the Women’s Snooker Masters from 22-24 November 2024 at Frames Sports Bar, Couldson, England. Enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.
There may not have been any professional snooker played yesterday but it still was a very busy day on the baize.
Indeed we had the last day of the 2024 Women Snooker UK Championship AND the 2024 Seniors Snooker 900 in Hull. I’ll post about the latter later today on my “Seniors blog”.
China’s Bai Yulu has ended the reign of Reanne Evans at the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship following a 4-0 final victory at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.
Record 12-time champion Evans was looking to extend a run which had seen her lift the title on four successive occasions, but it was reigning world champion Bai who dominated the title match to lift her third title on the World Women’s Snooker Tour since May 2023.
The 21-year-old Chinese star becomes the first winner of the UK Championship other than Evans and Ng On Yee in 12 years and the first player to win the world and UK titles during the same calendar year since Evans in 2019.
The victory will also see Bai rise to a new career-high world ranking of fourth position, behind only Mink Nutcharut, Ng and Evans.
Having been seeded through to the last 16 stage as reigning world champion, Bai progressed to the final with victories against Emma Powers-Richardson, recent US Open finalist Anupama Ramachandran and world number one Mink Nutcharut.
Awaiting her would once again be top seeded Evans, who survived a scare in the last 16 stage from India’s Amee Kamani to win 3-2, before she saw off So Man Yan and compatriot Rebecca Kenna – who had defeated Ng On Yee in the last eight – to set up a repeat of last year’s Leeds final.
In 2023 it had been Evans who ran out a 4-1 winner, but it would be a different story a year on as Bai quickly earned a 2-0 lead, before claiming a crucial third frame on the pink to move to within one frame of the title. Bai was not to be denied as she edged a final close frame to claim her first victory since her world title win in March and further cement her reputation as one of the leading Tour players.
Bai also achieved the highest break of the tournament with a run of 99 during her semi-final victory against Mink Nutcharut.
Side Tournaments
The Under-21 side tournament saw 13-year-old Ellise Scott claim her second successive junior title following her breakthrough win at the British Open back in May.
England’s Scott did not win a match during the group stages of the main competition, but enjoyed a successful run in the Under-21s with victories against Daisy May Oliver, Zoe Killington and Chloe Payne.
The Seniors side-tournament saw England’s Tessa Davidson lift her 12th over-40s crown following victory against Sarah Dunn in a repeat of the 2022 final in Leeds.
Davidson – who remains unbeaten at Seniors events since November 2023 – defeated Maureen Rowland, Mhairi Mackay and Dunn to win her second UK seniors title.
The Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals saw Jasmine Bolsover lift her first WWS Tour title in nine years following a 2-1 success against Amee Kamani.
Winner of the Under-21 and Plate competitions at the 2015 World Championship, Bolsover won five matches during the final day under the six-red format to secure victory.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful event, most notably our title sponsors Taom Billiards, our long-standing hosts at the Northern Snooker Centre and of course the players and officials without whom the event would not have been possible.
The 2024/25 season continues with the Australian Women’s Snooker Open from 5-8 October 2024 at the Mounties venue in Sydney, Australia.
Some of the matches can be found on WWS Youtube Channel
Congratulations Bai Yulu
I have no doubts that Bai is currently the best female snooker player on tour. For now she is finding it difficult, but she was able to compete very successfully on the youth CBSA tour, against the boys. I hope she adapts in the UK, and gets the support she needs. It would be great to see her develop and reap some success.
Christian Richter wins the 2024 IBSF World U17 Men Snooker Champion
Christian Richter from Germany has clinched the IBSF World Under-17 Men’s Snooker Championship 2024, defeating Thailand’s Lomnaw Issarangkun 4-1 in the final held today at KSBA, Bengaluru, India. This marks Christian’s first international snooker title.
Christian entered the knockout stage as the 7th seed and made an impressive start by overcoming Germany’s Paul Arthur Jeroch 3-1, highlighted by a standout break of 91. He then proceeded to beat India’s Jabez Naveen Kumar 3-0, with breaks of 44 and 67, securing his first international medal.
In a challenging semi-final, Christian faced last year’s runner-up, Riley Powell from Wales. Despite Riley’s century break in the second frame, Christian stayed composed, winning the match 4-2 with a break of 60 in the first frame and strong counterplay throughout.
In the final against the 2nd seed Lomnaw Issarangkun, Christian set the pace with opening breaks of 44 and 67 to lead 2-0. Lomnaw won the third frame but couldn’t catch up as Christian maintained his focus and won the next two frames effortlessly to secure the title.
The presentation ceremony was attended by IBSF Vice President Jim Leacy, IBSF Treasurer and Tournament Director Joseph Lo, BSFI President S. Balasubramaniam, and other officials from the Indian Federation, along with Shri Daulat B. Chhabria, the title sponsor.
Congratulations Christian!
Note that the “seeding” mentioned above is based on the results in the group stage and not on a kind of “IBSF ranking system”.
Meanwhile, the under-21 event is underway and still in the groups phase. Both “under-17” finalists are playing in this one as well. You can follow that event here.
We are going through a short “professional snooker” hiatus but there is quite a lot of snooker being played elsewhere. Indeed, the 2024 IBSF junior Championships are currently be held in India, and you will find everything you could wish to find about it here.
There are two events: an “under-17” event and an “under-21” event.
The under-17 event is close to its conclusion with only the final to be played”: 16 years old Christian Richter from Germany will face 15 years old Lomnaw Issarangkun from Thailand for the title.
The under-21 event is still in the early stages of the groups phase.
There are 44 players in the draw but there should be more. Indeed the Pakistani players weren’t granted the necessary visas by the Indian authorities. This is a great shame. Sports should bring people together, not further divide them and this feels even worse because is a junior event. Kids deserve better than chances being denied over old political grudges.
Andres Petrov defeated Ryan Thomerson 4-3 in a dramatic final at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds to win the first WPBSA Q Tour Europe event of the 2024/25 season.
The Estonian cueist came through a record-breaking Q Tour field in West Yorkshire to secure the title and take an early lead in the Q Tour Europe ranking list after the first of seven events to be held across the continent.
Petrov, who made history in 2022 by winning the EBSA European Championship to become his country’s first ever professional, showed his determination on the final day by coming from 3-1 behind in both the quarter and semi-finals before firing in two century breaks in a final which also went down to the wire.
A total of 154 cueists, a new record for a Q Tour event, embarked on the famous Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds as the first two days saw 106 players battle it out to join the 48 seeded competitors in the last 64 stage on the Saturday.
A number of notable names fell during a high-quality first two days, including recent former professionals Adam Duffy, Rebecca Kenna and Victor Sarkis.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Scot Jack Borwick made headlines by compiling a stunning tournament high break of 139 in a 3-0 victory over Daniel Bagley, before following this up with a 3-1 win against former professional Kuldesh Johal to make it to the last 64 – ultimately succumbing to the experienced Craig Steadman at this stage.
As one of the seeded competitors, eventual champion Petrov entered the fray on the Saturday and back-to-back 4-2 wins over Rodions Judins and Halim Hussain saw the Estonian book his place in the final day.
A relatively comfortable 4-1 victory over Hamim Hussain, the brother of Halim, put Petrov into the quarter-finals where he would face 48-year-old Simon Bedford on the Northern Snooker Centre’s main table.
Despite a break of 61 in the third frame, Petrov found himself 3-1 down and on the brink of defeat to Bedford in the last eight.
Success on a respotted black in frame five saw the Estonian reduce his deficit to one and, from here, Petrov showed his battling qualities to earn the victory in a deciding frame.
Petrov would need to call upon these qualities once more in the semi-finals against Simon Blackwell, as the Englishman charged into a 3-1 lead with back-to-back half centuries. Again, however, Petrov refused to accept defeat and forced a decider by taking a dramatic sixth frame on the final black before getting over the line in the seventh by a 71-0 scoreline.
This set up a title match contest with Australia’s Ryan Thomerson, who had similarly been relegated from the main tour at the end of the last season, after he had defeated Ryan Davies 4-1 in the semi-finals.
Having started on the Thursday, Thomerson had impressively advanced through eight rounds to reach the final with notable victories over former professionals Harvey Chandler, James Cahill and Steven Hallworth.
But it looked to be Petrov’s day when the man known as ‘The Tallinn Lamborghini’ raced into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 121, 90, 55 and 51 to move just one frame away from lifting the title.
Thomerson had already proved to be a fighter across the weekend, coming from 3-1 down to earn victories over both Chandler and Hallworth en route to the final, and after taking the fourth frame on the last black he then compiled a break of 72 to reduce his deficit to just a single frame.
In frame six, Petrov moved 62-0 ahead and looked certain to get over the line but a steely clearance of 64 from Thomerson saw him dramatically force a decider having trailed 0-3.
The man from Estonia saved perhaps his most majestic break of the weekend for the most important moment as he compiled an outstanding clearance of 119, his second century of the final, to win the title.
Petrov was visibly emotional following the victory having played 26 out of a possible 28 frames on a final day full of drama.
The tournament success means that Petrov makes the perfect start as he aims to make an instant return to the World Snooker Tour (WST) with the top ranked player at the conclusion of the campaign earning an outright two-year tour card.
On Yee Ng produced a stunning performance over the week-end to win the 2024 Women Snooker US Open Championship. Mind you… she didn’t lose a single frame all week-end and made 7 breaks over 50 during the event.
Hong Kong China’s Ng On Yee has defeated Anupama Ramachandran 4-0 to complete a dominant performance at the WineCellars.com US Women’s Snooker Open and earn her 21st ranking event title at Ox Billiards, Seattle.
The victory sees the world number two ranked player continue her rich vein of form on the World Women’s Snooker Tour, which has seen her lift titles in Albania, the UK and now the United States during 2024.
It was a particularly impressive showing throughout the three day event as she did not drop a single frame throughout, matching her feat at the 2018 World Championship. She also compiled the four highest breaks of the competition, highlighted by a run of 90 during the round robin stages.
Having seen off Frances Tso and Tessa Davidson in the knockout rounds to reach her sixth final from the last eight events, Ng would face India’s Anupama Ramachandran, who enjoyed a breakthrough event in Seattle.
The 22-year-old notably ended the title defence of Mink Nutcharut with a deciding frame win at the quarter-final stage, before toppling 2022 runner-up Rebecca Kenna to reach her first ranking final on Sunday.
The final would prove a step too far, however, as three-time world champion Ng dominated from the outset. Breaks of 52, 43 and a further 43 propelled her to a 2-0 lead, before a sublime 73 clearance took her to within one of the title. Ramachandran would have a chance in the fourth frame, but a further clearance of 83 would seal the match and the title for Ng, who finished the match with a pot success of 95%.
Side Tournaments
In the Seniors side-tournament it was England’s Tessa Davidson who won her 11th crown since her bow in the over-40s category in January 2022 to consolidate her position at the head of the Seniors rankings.
The 55-year-old defeated Tour debutant Kara Cox in the semi-finals, before seeing off Canadian veteran Maryann McConnell 2-0 to seal the title and cap a successful week which also saw her reach the semi-finals of a main ranking tournament for the first time since the 1999 British Open.
There was also consolation for McConnell in the Challenge Cup tournament for players who did not reach the quarter-finals of the main event. The 74-year-old won a close contest 2-1 against home player Kaarin Lysen to take home the winning trophy.
World Women’s Snooker would like to thank everyone who contributed to another hugely successful US Women’s Snooker Open, including title sponsors WineCellars.com, our hosts at Ox Billiards and of course the players and officials without whom the event would not have been possible.
The 2024/25 season continues with the return of the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship from 6-8 September 2024 at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds, England.
The Ox Billiards in Seattle is an beautiful club, run by passionate and very welcoming people. The coverage has been excellent. Table one was streamed throughout and you can watch the action again on the club’s YouTube page.
I have no doubts that On Yee wants to get back on the main tour and wants to give a better account of herself as well now that she has a better understanding of the Tour and what it takes to succeed on it.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 