Life came in the way of snooker in recent days but WST and WPBSA have published some important news
WPBSA Q Tour Goes Global
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Group of organisations (WPBSA) has today announced the launch of WPBSA Q Tour Global which will carry four World Snooker Tour cards.
Following two successful seasons based within the UK and mainland Europe, this season’s WPBSA Q Tour Global will for the first time incorporate regional events held around the world, each offering access to an extended Q Tour Playoff at the end of the season.
WPBSA Q TOUR UK/EUROPE
As in previous seasons, the rebranded WPBSA Q Tour UK/Europe will retain its previous format, with an expanded calendar of seven events to be held across the season.
To include four tournaments within the UK and a further three in mainland Europe, the circuit will once again see players compete to finish the season as the top ranked player and earn a place on the World Snooker Tour.
The next 16-ranked players (to include each event champion) will be guaranteed to qualify for the season-end Q Tour Global Playoff.
Each Q Tour UK/Europe event will carry an increased prize fund of over £14,000 and will be open to players from around the world. As in previous seasons, 48 players (see below) will be seeded through to Saturday’s last 64, to be joined by 16 qualifiers.
THE DATES
The provisional dates for this season’s Q Tour UK/Europe are:
- Q Tour 1 – 25-27 August 2023 – North East Snooker Centre, UK
- Q Tour 2 – 15-17 September 2023 – Snookerhallen, SWEDEN
- Q Tour 3 – 20-22 October 2023 – Heilbronn, GERMANY
- Q Tour 4 – 10-12 November 2023 Landywood Snooker Club, UK
- Q Tour 5 – 15-17 December 2023 – Castle Snooker, Brighton, UK
- Q Tour 6 – 5-7 January 2024 – Sofia, BULGARIA
- Q Tour 7 – 16-18 February 2024 – Northern Snooker Centre, UK
All dates are provisional and subject to change.
All Q Tour UK/Europe events in England will be held at official 147 Clubs recognised by the English Partnership for Snooker and Billiards.
THE PLAYERS
As was the case last season, each weekend tournament will be made up of 64 players comprising the following:
The top 32 eligible players from the 2023 UK Q School Order of Merit eligible to compete.
Iulian Boiko, Haydon Pinhey, Sydney Wilson, Duane Jones, Alfie Davies, Barry Pinches, Rory McLeod, Steven Hallworth, Simon Bedford, Florian Nuessle, Alex Taubman, Jamie O’Neill, Peter Lines, Ryan Davies, Fergal Quinn, Joshua Thomond, Josh Mulholland, Sean McAllister, Daniel Holoyda, Robin Hull, Craig Steadman, Chris Totten, Michael Holt, Zachary Richardson, Umut Dikme, Ben Fortey, Lewis Ullah, Daniel Womersley, Harvey Chandler, Jamie Curtis-Barrett, Martyn Taylor, James Lee
The top 8 from the 2023 Asia-Oceania Q School Order of Merit
Ka Wai Cheung, Lei Peifan, Yu Kiu Chang, Gong Chenzhi, Jefrey Roda, Dhruv, Jatan Patel, Asutosh Padhy, Khalid Ali Alkamali
The eight highest ranked junior players on the 2023 UK Q School Order of Merit, not already qualified.
Bai Yulu, Antoni Kowalski, Liam Davies, Jamie Wilson, Bulcsu Revesz, Oliver Sykes, Vladislav Gradinari, Paul Deaville
EVENT ENTRY
The 48 qualified players will be contacted directly by email with entry instructions. Each player will be required to pay a block entry fee of £525 by 12:00pm on 28 July and will be guaranteed a place in the last 64 of each UK/Europe tournament.
Following this date, subject to the number of players who have accepted and paid for their Q Tour UK/Europe place, we will contact top up players as required until we have 48 confirmed players for each event. These players will have until 12:00pm 1 August to claim their place.
Open entry for all Friday qualifying tournaments will be opened to all players from no later than 2 August. We aim to accommodate all players who wish to enter, however, we do reserve the right to limit entries for each qualifier subject to the number of tables available at the club and time available.
All entries are to be made via WPBSA SnookerScores.
Q TOUR GLOBAL
For the first time, the WPBSA Q Tour Global will incorporate regional Q Tour Series’ staged around the world as part of the planned international expansion of Q Tour.
The WPBSA welcomes expressions of interest to stage Q Tour tournaments from recognised organisations and national federations which share our vision for high-quality amateur events.
As part of the WPBSA’s commitment to the international growth of our sport, the leading players from these Regional Q Tour events will qualify to compete at the Q Tour Global Playoff, alongside players from Q Tour UK/Europe.
Players competing in Q Tour events outside of UK/Europe, must be resident for a minimum six months to be eligible to play in these events.
Q TOUR PLAYOFF
The WPBSA Q Tour Global Playoff will be relaunched for the 2023/24 season with three places on the World Snooker Tour to be won for the first time.
As in previous seasons, the Playoff will include the winners of Q Tour UK/Europe events, followed the highest ranked remaining players up to 16 players. They will be joined by a further eight players from regional Q Tour events held around the world. Should these places not be taken, they will be filled by additional players from the Q Tour UK/Europe Rankings.
In recognition of the increased status of the Playoff, the event will be held over three days and will be made up of three sections of eight players, meaning qualifiers into this season’s prestigious grand final will only need to win three matches at the Playoff to earn a place on the World Snooker Tour. Quarter-finals will be played over the best of nine frames, semi-finals the best of 11 frames and the finals over the best of 19 frames.
The Playoff will also carry a prize fund of almost £20,000 for the first time, with each tour card winner set to take home £2,000. Each qualifier will be guaranteed to earn at least £500, with prize money increasing to £750, £1,000 and the £2,000 top prize.
“THE ULTIMATE TEST”
Jason Ferguson, WPBSA Chairman said: “Our WPBSA Q Tour has quickly become a key cornerstone in the amateur snooker calendar, offering direct access to the World Snooker Tour and regular competition at high-quality venues.
“We are therefore now delighted to be able to launch the WPBSA Q Tour Global, which for the first time enables players around the world to be able to compete and potentially earn their place on the professional circuit. It is particularly important to add that this new global model will serve players all over the world with life changing opportunities. It is also important to state that our vision includes working with federations and partners around the world who share our vision of a truly open global sport.
“I am hugely excited by the potential of Q Tour and in particular now the Global Playoff, with long frame formats, I can only speak on this as a former snooker player, when I say this is the ultimate test for players aiming to take the next step with a full-time career on the World Snooker Tour.
“We will soon be writing to our many partners and friends around the world, inviting them to join us in this truly global plan.”
FURTHER INFORMATION
The 48 players eligible to accept a seeded place on Q Tour UK/Europe will be contacted shortly with instructions on how to accept their place.
Further information, including open entry details and full entry packs, will be published as soon as possible.
More details will follow shortly on how federations and/or organisations can develop their plans and ideas with us.
All this is extremely good news. I want to see this as the start of a proper secondary tour. I do hope that the Q-Tour playoffs will be streamed and that fans will be allowed to attend. This I hope is the seed for a proper, much needed secondary tour. I’m only disappointed that there is no event in Belgium. I’m also pleased that Bai Yulu has been invited. Matches are played over a longer format in the latter stages too.
BetVictor European Masters Draw
The draw for the 2023 BetVictor European Masters is now available, as well as the match schedule for next week’s qualifying rounds.
CLICK HERE FOR THE DRAW
CLICK HERE FOR THE QUALIFIERS FORMAT
The qualifiers run from Tuesday July 25 to Saturday July 29 in Leicester* followed by the final stages in Nuremberg, Germany from August 22-27.
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Matches involving the top eight seeds have been held over to Germany. They are:
Kyren Wilson begins the defence of his title against Dean Young
Shaun Murphy faces a battle of two former World Champions against Graeme Dott
Masters champion Judd Trump takes on 2022 African Champion Mohamed Ibrahim
Player of the 2022/23 season Mark Allen faces Anton Kazakov
World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan meets Andy Hicks
Four-time Crucible king Mark Selby plays tour debutant Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Neil Robertson is up against Wu Yize
Luca Brecel plays his first match as World Champion against Jackson Page
The match schedule for the final stages will be announced soon.
In the qualifying rounds, matches to look out for include:
Crucible semi-finalist Si Jiahui against Shoot Out runner-up Julien Leclercq
John Higgins v Martin Gould
Aaron Hill v Jimmy White
Mark Williams v Zhang Anda
Details of how to watch the qualifying rounds will be announced soon.
*Please note that there is no access to fans for this qualifying event. To see which qualifying event fans will be welcome at this season, click here.
I was on good form last night, and I don’t think it can get any better then that 
Ronnie O'Sullivan 