Bai Yulu Completes UK Hat-Trick to Reclaim Top Ranking
China’s Bai Yulu has defeated Reanne Evans 4-1 to lift the Taom UK Women’s Snooker Championship title for a third successive year and in doing so reclaim the world number one ranking at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England.
Bai was in dominant form throughout the three-day event as she dropped just two frames from her seven matches and compiled three century breaks during the final day, including a tournament-high run of 125, to move into second position on the all-time list.
Winner of the UK Championship in both 2024 and 2025, Bai extended her winning streak at the event to 18 matches to lift her ninth career ranking title, equalling the total of Thailand’s Mink Nutcharut and in doing so securing enough ranking points to return to the summit of the world ranking list for a second time.
For Evans, defeat in an unprecedented 17th UK Championship final nevertheless represented a strong start to the season and her second consecutive ranking final, following her run to the title match at the World Championship back in May.
The pair progressed from a high-quality field which included all of the world’s top 10 current ranked players and saw an exceptional standard of snooker played with six century breaks across the weekend and several other significant breaks across the three days.
Bai scored notable victories against three-time former champion Tessa Davidson, two-time UK finalist Rebecca Kenna and former US Open finalist Anupama Ramachandran – who had impressed with a comeback from 0-2 down to world champion Panchaya Channoi in the quarter-finals – to reach a fourth UK final.
For Evans, her route included wins against Selina Dean, rising 17-year-old star Liu Ziling and outgoing world number one OnYee Ng in the semi-finals as she eyed a record-extending 13th victory at the second-oldest event on the calendar.
It was Bai who made her intentions clear with a run of 103 in the opening frame, before Evans responded with a top run of 31 to draw level at 1-1.
China’s Bai reclaimed the lead following a close third frame, before adding a blistering run of 117 to move to within a frame of the title, which she would duly seal with a top run of 34 in what would prove to be the fifth and final frame.
Phoemphul, Davidson Defend Titles
In the Under-21 and Seniors titles there were repeat victories for Thailand’s Narucha Phoemphul and England’s Tessa Davidson, who successfully defended their titles from last year.
For top ranked Phoemphul it would be an eighth career under-21 title after she overcame Laura Killington and Liu Ziling – in doing so avenging her defeat to Liu at the last 16 stage of the main competition the previous evening. The win sees her consolidate her position at the top of the Under-21 rankings, for which she was presented with a special award for having finished last season as the top ranked junior.
It was a similar story for Davidson, who overcame Sarah Dunn 2-0 in the final to secure her fourth UK Seniors title and her 21st in total since January 2022, moving her to within two of the all-time record currently held by Jenny Poulter.
In the Challenge Cup competition for players who did not progress to the final day of the main competition, there was victory for Latvia’s Anna Prisjažņuka, who had narrowly lost out to Mink Nutcharut on a pink ball battle at the last 16 stage the previous evening.
The World Women’s Snooker team would like to express its thanks to all who contributed to a landmark event, including our sponsors, venue, live streaming production, commentary and media team for helping to make the weekend possible.
The Tour continues with the Australian Women’s Snooker Open, which runs from 17-20 October at Mounties, Sydney, Australia. Entry for the event is currently open via the ABSC website.
Many fans look down at women snooker with contempt1 and it is true that the standard is nowhere near what is produced by the top male players. The usual explanation by the “male supremacists” is that women are just somehow “inferior beings” …
Why Are There So Few Female Snooker Players at the Highest Level?
If you watch a snooker table long enough, you notice an undeniable fact: the snooker cue balls do not care who is holding the cue stick, and the pockets do not distinguish between the genders. Regardless of who strikes it, a straight blue ball aimed at the middle pocket presents the same level of difficulty and yields the same result.
Yet, when the spotlight falls on top-tier professional snooker tournaments, the field remains overwhelmingly male. Why is this the case? The simplest explanation might point to physiological differences between men and women, but that overlooks a more significant part of the story. The reality is far more complex and, in many ways, far more hopeful.
Women are not barred from open professional competitions. The World Snooker Tour is gender-neutral, and the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) actively encourages men and women to compete against one another. In fact, female players have not only competed in the World Championship and won matches on the professional tour but have also produced high-scoring breaks that would command the respect of any seasoned snooker player.
The issue is not an inability for women to play snooker; rather, it is that historically very few girls have had access to the prerequisites for reaching the elite level: opportunity, encouragement, professional coaching, match experience, and financial support. This distinction is crucial.
After all, if generations start from different positions, it is hardly surprising that the podium ends up dominated by a single group.
It Is Not a Closed Door But a Narrow Pipeline
One of the most important points to understand is that women’s snooker and men’s snooker are not simply two completely separate worlds. The main professional circuit is open to both men and women. In March 2026, the WPBSA confirmed that all players can compete in open tournaments, while World Women’s Snooker provides a dedicated development and competition pathway for women and girls.
This means a talented female player does not need to wait for someone to create a separate professional sport for her; the route to the elite stage already exists. The real challenge lies in getting enough girls onto that path.
According to World Women’s Snooker, there are currently over 170 players from 30 countries competing on its tour. While this figure is encouraging, the disparity becomes glaring when compared to the vast number of men who have historically participated in competitive snooker.
To a certain extent, competitive sports are a numbers game. If 100,000 boys seriously commit to a sport while only 1,000 girls do the same, the larger group is naturally more likely to produce a greater number of top-tier players. This is not a matter of innate talent, but of opportunity.
1. The Biggest Problem Starts at Grassroots Level
Most world-class snooker players do not suddenly discover the sport and decide to pursue a professional career at the age of twenty; their fundamental skills are usually established much earlier.
Young players spend years mastering their stance and cue action, learning to judge ball speed and control the cue ball, and perhaps most importantly learning to anticipate and plan their shots several moves in advance.
By the time future professionals step onto the stage of major tournaments, they have often logged thousands of hours of practice at the pool table. Historically, however, very few girls have gone through this process.
This creates a simple but powerful cycle:
Fewer girls playing → fewer junior competitors → fewer elite prospects → fewer female professionals → fewer visible role models → fewer girls inspired to start.
It becomes a vicious cycle that is difficult to break. To break it, merely paying lip service to women’s participation is far from enough. They need places to play, coaches who provide serious instruction, a variety of tournaments, and parents who recognize snooker as a genuine sporting opportunity; above all, they need to see people like themselves standing in the spotlight at major events.
2. Where Are the Female Role Models?
This is perhaps one of the most easily underestimated factors. Just imagine the situation for a 10-year-old girl who loves snooker but has never seen a woman competing at the Crucible, the iconic home of the World Snooker Championship.
It is difficult to envision yourself becoming something you have never seen before. That is precisely why players like Reanne Evans, Ng On Yee, Mink Nutcharut, Bai Yulu, and Panchaya Channoi are significant far beyond their individual match results.
They are powerful proof that “anything is possible.” Reanne Evans is perhaps the quintessential example. The English player is the most successful female snooker athlete in history, having won a record 12 World Women’s Snooker Championship titles and 58 WWS (World Women’s Snooker) ranking event titles. Furthermore, in 2010, she successfully navigated the qualifiers to become the first woman to reach the main stage of the World Snooker Championship. This was not merely a footnote in snooker history, but a genuine milestone. Moreover, the story is no longer just about Evans alone.
China’s Bai Yulu has emerged as another pivotal figure. She won the World Women’s Championship in both 2024 and 2025, becoming the first Chinese player to claim the title and thereby earning a professional tour card for the World Snooker Tour (WST). In 2025, she recorded a break of 145 at the International Championship, setting the record for the highest break ever achieved by a female player in a WST event at the time.
Then, 2026 brought another remarkable breakthrough. At just 18 years old, Thai player Panchaya Channoi defeated Reanne Evans 6–2 to claim the 2026 World Women’s Championship title and secure a two-year WST professional tour card. She thus became the youngest women’s world champion since Ann-Marie Farren in 1987.
These stories matter because the next generation needs more than just posters; they need tangible examples.
3. The Professional Gap Is Also a Financial Gap
Becoming a professional snooker player is expensive, involving expenses such as travel, accommodation, tournament entry fees, training time, coaching, and cue equipment. Furthermore, countless hours spent at the table often yield no financial return. For a player striving to break through, the financial pressure presents a challenge every bit as daunting as facing a tricky black ball during a match.
Historically, prize money and commercial exposure in women’s snooker have lagged behind mainstream professional events. This creates a dilemma for aspiring players: how can one maintain professional-standard training when financial means cannot support the daily life of a professional athlete?
A player with financial backing can devote more time to training and traveling to tournaments, whereas another might have to work during the day, squeezing in practice whenever possible and traveling to compete on weekends. Both may be exceptionally talented, but realizing that talent takes time. That is precisely why sponsorship is so crucial.
Increased investment means more than just writing bigger checks for established stars; it means giving promising newcomers opportunities to grow into the superstars of the future. Coaching stipends, youth development programs, travel support, equipment sponsorship, and tournaments with richer prize purses all help broaden the talent pipeline.
4. Competitive Experience Is Difficult to Replace
Snooker is a unique sport because training differs vastly from actual match play. Even if you can make century breaks in practice, you might still lose in the first round of a competitive match; pressure changes everything. The silence of the arena is different, the atmosphere created by the crowd is different, and the sensation of your opponent sitting across from you is different. In an instant, a simple red ball, one you’ve potted five hundred times before, can suddenly seem impossibly out of reach.
It is precisely by navigating these moments time and again that elite players develop. They learn to reset their mindset after missing an easy shot, to close out a frame, to win even when their form isn’t at its peak, and to manage their nerves. For a long time, the small pool of female players meant that women and girls rarely had the opportunity to immerse themselves in such a competitive environment over the long term.
This is why establishing dedicated women’s tournaments is crucial. A robust women’s tour is by no means a “consolation prize”; rather, it acts as an engine for talent development. It provides regular match experience, a ranking system, healthy competition, and a pathway to the professional circuit.
Today, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) recognizes the World Women’s Snooker (WWS) Tour as an official qualification route to the World Snooker Tour (WST). All signs indicate that this system is already yielding results.
For the 2026/27 season, Channoi and Bai Yulu have been nominated to compete on the World Snooker Tour (WST) alongside established professionals Ng On-yee and Reanne Evans, a perfect example of the kind of bridge the sport needs.
5. Does Physical Difference Matter?
Some think physical differences explain the disparity; others think physical differences don’t matter, and the truth is more nuanced. Snooker is not a sport where strength determines victory or defeat. Precision, timing, concentration, tactical judgment, cue ball control, and consistency are very important.
However, physical characteristics can affect certain aspects of the game. On average, men are taller and stronger than women. Sometimes, more reach can make a particular shot more comfortable, and extra power can be produced when the shot calls for it.
But it would be a mistake to take these average differences as a comprehensive explanation of the occupational gender gap. There are many players in snooker whose success relies on touch rather than brute force. Smaller players can use technique, balance, cue extension, table knowledge and smart shot selection to overcome physical limitations.
The evidence from women’s snooker itself tells an important story. Female players regularly produce strong drives and high-level positional play. Reanne Evans has twice shot 140 on the WWS rankings, while Bai Yulu has scored at an elite level on the Open Pro Tour.
So, biology can influence certain physical properties, but biology cannot explain the entire situation. Far more importantly, it does not explain why so few girls start playing seriously in the first place.
6. What About the Cueing Stance and Body Shape?
There has also been a long-running claim that women’s body shape makes certain aspects of cueing more difficult. This is an area where caution is needed. There is no good reason to suggest that women’s bodies inherently prevent them from developing an effective snooker technique.
Players will naturally adjust their stance, bridge, cue position and alignment to fit their body shape. Every player is slightly different. Some are very tall. Some are very short. Some people have very broad shoulders. Some are very slim. Some people have very long arms. Others rely on compact movement.
Good coaches find a repeatable technique that works for each player rather than forcing everyone into the same pattern. In other words, the question shouldn’t be: “Does a woman’s body prevent her from playing snooker?” It should be: “Has she received enough instruction and practice to discover a technique that works for her?” That’s a more useful question.
7. The Importance of Starting Young
If there’s one lesson other sports have taught us, it’s that elite development takes time. Players who start training seriously at the age of eight or ten have a huge head start over players who start playing competitive snooker at 18 years old.
This doesn’t mean that people who start late can’t succeed. They can. Nutcharut Wongharuthai is a good reminder that development does not always follow a clear timeline. But the sooner players receive quality coaching and meaningful competition, the better chance they have of developing elite habits.
That’s why junior snooker deserves serious attention. If the sport wants to have more women at the top in 10 or 15 years, it needs more girls around the snooker table today. Not next year. today.
8. Women’s Snooker Is Already Producing Elite Talent
There is no need to make snooker easier for women; there is no need to change the tables, there is no need to change the rules, there is no need to pretend that competition doesn’t matter. What the sport needs is a bigger, stronger, more supportive pathway for women to meet the same standards. The available evidence gives us good reason to believe it will happen.
It is easy to talk about the problem and forget the progress. That would be a mistake. The women’s game has produced players with extraordinary records.
Reanne Evans has dominated women’s snooker for more than two decades. Ng On Yee became the first player from outside the UK to reach world number one in the WWS rankings in 2018. Mink Nutcharut became world number one in 2023. Bai Yulu reached number one in 2026 and became a two-time world champion. And in May 2026, 18-year-old Panchaya Channoi became world champion after defeating three previous world champions on her way to the title.
That is not a sport without talent. It is a sport with a talent pool that is still growing.
9. The Numbers Are Moving in the Right Direction
There is another reason to be optimistic. The women’s game is becoming increasingly international.
The current WWS rankings feature players from England, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Mongolia, Australia, Latvia, Iran and other countries. That matters.
Snooker becomes stronger when talent is discovered in more places. China is an especially interesting example. Bai Yulu’s rise demonstrates how investment, local interest and a growing competitive environment can help produce elite players.
The 2026 World Women’s Championship was staged at a purpose-built venue in Dongguan Changping, with the event secured at the venue for a longer-term period through 2031. This is how a movement grows, not overnight, not with a marketing campaign, but by building an ecosystem.
10. What Would Help More Women Reach the Top?
There is no single magic trick. Instead, the sport needs to strengthen several parts of the pathway at the same time.
More Girls Playing at Grassroots Level
Schools, clubs and junior programmes can introduce snooker to girls before the old stereotypes have a chance to take root. The earlier snooker becomes “a sport I play” rather than “a sport boys play”, the better.
Better Access to Coaching
A promising young player needs someone who can spot potential and teach the fundamentals properly. Good guidance can save years of trial and error.
More Female Role Models
Young players need people to look up to. Every time Evans, Bai, Channoi, On Yee, or Nutcharut appears on a major stage, another young player can think: “Perhaps I could do that too.” That thought is worth more than it sounds.
Stronger Financial Support
More sponsorship and prize money would allow more women to treat snooker as a serious professional career rather than an expensive hobby.
More Media Exposure
The sport needs to tell the stories behind the players. A viewer may not understand every safety exchange on their first night watching snooker. But they can understand ambition. They can understand pressure. They can understand a teenager chasing a dream. They can understand an experienced champion refusing to give up. Stories bring people into sport.
The Future Should Not Be About “Men Versus Women”
Perhaps the most important change is the way we frame the discussion. The goal should not be to prove that women are “better” than men or that men are “better” than women. That misses the point. The real question is: How much female talent has never been discovered because the opportunity to develop it never existed? We simply do not know the answer. And that is precisely why the future is exciting.
If more girls start playing at eight, nine or 10 years old, if more girls receive quality instruction, if more girls compete regularly, if more girls can travel and practice, if more girls see women succeeding on the biggest stages, then the talent pool will get deeper.
Then, and only then, will we have a much clearer picture of how close the very best women can come to the very best men in open professional snooker. Perhaps the next great female player is already out there. Perhaps she is eight years old, holding a cue for the first time. Perhaps she has just made her first decent break and is quietly thrilled because the white ball finished exactly where she wanted it. Perhaps nobody has noticed her yet. That is where the real opportunity lies.
Choosing the Right Snooker Cue for Female Players
If there’s one thing that deserves clarification, it’s this: there is no “women’s snooker cue” that every female player should use. A good snooker cue should fit the player, not the label.
Women can and do play snooker with standard full-size cues, and many experienced female players are perfectly suited to using 57″ or 58″ snooker cues. A better question is not “Which cue is made for women?” but “Which cue allows me to cue naturally, comfortably, and consistently?”
This distinction is important, especially for younger players, beginners, and people of smaller stature. Prompts that feel too long or awkward can make a technically difficult game feel harder than it needs to be. The right pool cues, on the other hand, feel like an extension of your arm: balanced, predictable, and reassuring.
Start with Height and Cueing Position
Height is one of the most useful starting points when choosing a snooker cue, although it should not be considered an absolute rule.
The length of a standard snooker cue is usually around 57 inches to 58 inches, which is a perfect length for many adult players. However, smaller players may find a 56-inch cue more comfortable, especially if they are learning to establish a stable stance and bridge.
The goal is simple: When you hit the ball, you should be able to assume a natural position without feeling like you’re stretching your body to control the cue.
A shorter cue can be especially helpful if you regularly find yourself:
Struggling to maintain a comfortable stance
Feeling that the butt of the cue gets in the way during your backswing
Crowding the table when addressing certain shots
Finding it difficult to keep your cue arm and bridge hand relaxed
Losing consistency because you are concentrating more on handling the cue than playing the shot
For junior and smaller-stature players, this becomes even more important. A 51″ or 53″ junior snooker cue can provide a much more manageable starting point than immediately handing a young player a full-length cue.
Cue Weight: Control is More Important Than Numbers
Weight is another aspect of personal preference that is very important. There is no magic cue weight that automatically makes a cue better for female players. Naturally, lighter players may prefer lighter cues, but body size alone won’t dictate what feels best. Some women enjoy a substantial cue because it gives them a solid, planted feeling through the shot, while others prefer something lighter and more responsive.
What matters is whether you can successfully deliver the prompt. A cue that feels too heavy may cause unnecessary tension in the cue grip and cueing arm. One that feels too light can sometimes feel less stable, particularly when playing longer shots or applying more pace.
For growing players, balance and control are often more useful considerations than simply chasing a specific number on the scale.
Is a 9.5mm Tip Suitable for Female Players?
For traditional snooker, 9.5mm is a very suitable cue tip size for both male and female players. The smaller tip than many American pool cues allows for precise contact with the cue ball and provides ample control for positional play, spin shots, stun shots, and delicate touches.
The key is not whether the player is male or female. This is a hint as to whether it is appropriate for the game you are playing. The well-prepared 9.5mm tip provides a useful balance between control and forgiveness, especially for players learning to manage the motion of the cue ball. Players looking for a different feel can also consider the professionally installed ELK Master Tip upgrade.
although they wouldn’t look down with contempt at their boobs when they are down on the shot, if given the opportunity. 😎 ↩︎
Can Ronnie O’Sullivan end title drought at Wuhan Open as Stephen Hendry and Neil Robertson highlight key Rocket asset.
Ronnie O’Sullivan won the last of his record 41 ranking titles in January 2024 when he claimed the World Grand Prix. The snooker GOAT has appeared in three major finals since then, but has yet to end his 31-month trophy drought despite putting in the hours in practice ahead of the Wuhan Open.
O’Sullivan described himself as “a very poor snooker player at the moment” after losing to 6-4 to world No. 27 Noppon Saengkham in the second round of the China Open in Taiyuan last week.
Upon reflection, it was a defeat that was probably not that bad, with the inspired Thai potter also brilliantly seeing off Judd Trump (6-3), Shaun Murphy (6-4) and Zhou Yuelong (6-5) before losing the final 10-6 to Mark Selby.
O’Sullivan returns to the table when he opens his Wuhan Open campaign against Ashley Carty on Monday morning at 02:30 am…
The Essex player has come up short three times in finals, losing at the 2024 Tour Championship (10-5) to Mark Williams, last year’s Saudi Arabia Masters against Neil Robertson (10-9) and the World Open (10-7) to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in March.
O’Sullivan is not faltering through lack of preparation, with world No. 2 Robertson praising the work ethic of O’Sullivan during his run to the quarter-finals of the China Open.
“I was watching Ronnie O’Sullivan on the practice table the other day, he was there for three-and-a-half hours,” said the Australian.
“I was on the other table and I felt that if he is still putting the hours in at the age of 50, then I should be too.
“I feel I have done everything right for this trip, and it’s nice to get the results.“
….
Fellow seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry feels it is only a matter of time before O’Sullivan comes good in a blue-chip event providing he can minimise the misses.
“We know at his best he can produce unbelievable performances and if he can string them together, I think he will win a tournament.
“Which is not the greatest of predictions. He seems to be working his n*** off. He is pounding the practice table as soon as he is out of the tournament.
“All of a sudden he misses something you can’t believe out of nowhere, like John Higgins and Mark Williams, and it’s those unforced errors on easy shots which cost him.
“The concentration has to weaken a bit, the ability to keep that massive focus through a whole match or tournament, that has to waver as you get older.
“It is just natural. These easy misses and mistakes get punished more than they used to, Ronnie has always been quick to blame himself when he is not playing well.“
After Wuhan, the snooker roadshow moves back to the UK, with the British Open in Cheltenham and English Open in Brentwood.
I wish I had their confidence in such prediction … but, no, right now I can’t see it. That said, those two guys are/were professional snooker players and are multiple ranking event winners and former World Champions. They are probably better judges than me … hopefully they, and Ronnie, prove me wrong.
So far this season, Ronnie has played in two events, losing in round two both times, and on both occasions the player who beat him went on to reach the final. They were clearly playing very well. On both occasions, I feel that Ronnie showed some very good stuff in patches and could have won those matches, but was guilty of the odd mistakes that cost him dear. And it wasn’t even the hardest balls he missed either, and that kind of “silly” errors are typically caused by lapses in concentration. I’m not sure what the answer is if that is indeed the main issue. Time waits for no one …
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has today announced the 2026/27 WPBSA Q Tour Europe series featuring seven tournaments to be held across the continent.
The WPBSA Q Tour Global is an established series of events which provides an elite pathway for snooker players around the world to earn their place on the World Snooker Tour.
Last season saw former Shoot Out semi-finalist Jamie Clarke top the Q Tour Europe rankings, with England’s Craig Steadman, Ashley Hugill and Ashley Carty each qualifying from the overall Q Tour Global Playoffs in Spain.
WPBSA Q Tour Europe
This season’s Q Tour Europe will once again comprise seven events, with four to be held in mainland Europe.
Following last season’s revamped format, the series will once again feature a rolling points-based ranking system with best-of-seven frame matches.
At each event, 64 players will be seeded through to the last 128 stage based on the latest seedings cut-off point. Each tournament will be played under a flat draw, with the remaining players drawn at random.
A total prize fund of £30,000 will be on offer at each of the seven events throughout the campaign.
As in previous seasons, the top ranked player at the end of the campaign will earn a place on the World Snooker Tour. The next 16-ranked players (to include each event champion) will qualify for the season-end Q Tour Global Play-Offs.
The Dates
The provisional dates for this season’s Q Tour Europe are listed below. Click on the event to enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.
We aim to accommodate all players who wish to enter; however, we do reserve the right to limit entries for each qualifier or to extend events subject to the number of tables available at the club and time available.
Q Tour Global
WPBSA Q Tour Global will continue to incorporate regional Q Tour series’ staged around the world as part of the continued international expansion of Q Tour.
The Q Tour Global will once again continue to include series in the Middle East, Americas and Asia-Pacific regions, alongside the CBSA China Tour.
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 Play-Offs, alongside players from Q Tour Europe.
Players competing in Q Tour events outside of Europe, must be resident for a minimum six months to be eligible to play in these events.
There is progress … four out of seven of those Q-Tour events are played outside the UK. However, the three remaining events are all played in England… nothing in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Ok, they are all played in excellent clubs that will offer first class conditions, which, of course, is very important. And, also, for players from outside the UK, England is probably the “easiest” UK area to reach from outside the UK, be it by plane, boat or train (Eurostar).
I have been at all of these venues in the past, except for the one in Vienna. They are all very good venues, the conditions should be excellent and the “hospitality” should be great too.
Q Tour Europe 2026/27 – Event 1 | Tournament Information
The draw and schedule for the first event of the 2026/27 WPBSA Q Tour Europe series is now available with 143 players competing at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England on 27-30 August 2026.
A total of 25 nations will be represented in the opening event which features an incredible entry number of 143 – higher than any Q Tour event during the 2025/26 season.
The top ranked player at the end of the campaign will earn a two-year World Snooker Tour (WST) tour card, while further places will be available at the Q Tour Global Play-Offs where an additional three tour cards will be on offer.
143 players are in the draw … Drat! they missed the 147 target 😇…
Unless I’m mistaken there is only one woman in the draw… Corina Maracine. She’s a mystery to me that woman. She enters those events every year, for years now and it’s not cheap. Unless my memory fails me, she has never won a match in any of those comps. Maybe she can afford it and she just loves to be at those events, to part of it…
This event has a random draw, and a new draw is made before each round. Therefore only the first round draw can be published ahead of the event and WST has now made it available:
Unibet British Open 2026 Draw: Murphy To Face Evans
Shaun Murphy will take on Reanne Evans when he starts the defence of his Unibet British Open title in Cheltenham, with the first round draw for the event now available.
Murphy beat Anthony McGill in the final last year and will aim to win the Clive Everton Trophy again at the world ranking event which runs from August 31 to September 6 at the Centaur Arena at Cheltenham Racecourse.
…
The tournament has a random draw which means that star names can go head-to-head from the opening round. Most round one matches will take place in a qualifying event on July 23 and 24 in Leicester, but fixtures involving the top 16 seeds have been held over to Cheltenham. They are:
Defending champion Shaun Murphy v Reanne Evans
Four-time Crucible king John Higgins v Hossein Vafaei
World number one Judd Trump v Dylan Emery
World Champion Wu Yize v Liu Hongyu
All-time greatest Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mateusz Baranowski
Mark Williams v David Gilbert
Zhao Xintong v Oliver Brown
Neil Robertson v Pang Junxu
Kyren Wilson v Florian Nuessle
Mark Allen v Wang Xinbo
Ding Junhui v Anton Kazakov
Barry Hawkins v Deng Haohui
Xiao Guodong v Jiang Jun
Mark Selby v David Lilley
Chris Wakelin v Luca Brecel
Si Jiahui v Ashley Carty
The match schedule for Cheltenham will be announced after the qualifiers. The event will have extensive live coverage in the UK on 5, with the full list of broadcasters to be announced soon.
The draw may be random but there is no clash between two top sixteen members, which, of course, would have not been good commercially… luck was on the side of WST there 😎1
Ronnie O’Sullivan: ‘If my son wants to play Snooker 900, I’ll tell him to go for it’
O’Sullivan is a key part of Snooker 900, which is broadcast live on Pluto TV.
Ryan Smart
Ronnie O’Sullivan says he has never encouraged his son, Ronnie Jr, to take up professional snooker – but won’t stand in his way when it comes to Snooker 900.
Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan is heavily involved in the project of Snooker 900, a faster-paced format founded by promoter and agent Jason Francis which sees frames played over 15 minutes and with shot clocks in operation.
He co-launched a dedicated, 24/7 snooker channel on Pluto TV last year, which broadcasts up to 18 hours of live snooker every week including all Snooker 900 events.
The concept has attracted some of snooker’s big-name stars, with the likes of Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Luca Brecel and Jimmy White competing in events.
Robertson called the rules for Snooker 900 ‘the most fun I’ve had playing snooker’ after he took part for the first time last year.
When the channel was launched in October, O’Sullivan spoke about how he felt the format was bringing back ‘grassroots snooker’ and, as well as the senior events, there are also tournaments for junior, amateur and disability snooker players.
In April, ‘The Rocket’ won the inaugural Global Snooker 900 Championship, taking home the £25,000 top prize and beating 2023 world champion Luca Brecel on the way.
Now, O’Sullivan has opened up on the next steps for Snooker 900 – and has reiterated his hopes of setting up a specialised tour over the coming years.
“My legacy would be, providing a tour, and a summer camp for juniors where they’re just playing 900,” O’Sullivan said in a new interview with Pluto TV, which is releasing on Monday.
“They’ve got choices now – football, tennis and golf. We need to give them the snooker option. I feel like the 15 minute frames just keeps it modern day – it’s enough, it’s perfect. Everyone gets what they need out of it.
“It’s something I would encourage juniors to play. We’ll have some academies where they can go and learn 900, and go and be an expert.
“We want to encourage everyone. It’s a level playing field, anyone can do it. Your talent can be [smaller] and you can still make it, I think.“
O’Sullivan, one of the quickest players on the professional snooker circuit, says he enjoys the 15-minute concept – because there is a set start point and end point to every match.
“The biggest thing is, it gives structure. If I play at 12, I’m done by 2:30. I can have a nice lunch and time to have a sleep,” he explains.
“I have time to come back, have a shower, get warmed up for the evening session. I’ve already planned what I’m doing tonight. I know I’m going to be back in Woodford probably around half 10.
“If I was playing in a normal tournament, I don’t know what’s going to happen. My wife knows [in a Snooker 900 tournament] I’m going to be home at half 10, and she’s like, ‘Cool’, and can get on with her day. Everyone’s happy.
“You see it at Wimbledon sometimes. The rain starts and the players are there for about six or seven hours. It must be awful for them. We do that on the main tour.“
‘You’ve got one or two hours of pain, but enjoyment‘
O’Sullivan has repeatedly stated in the past that he wouldn’t want his children to play snooker – comments that did bring with them some negative reactions from other players.
In 2022, he told Eurosport that he ‘just wouldn’t want my child to live that life‘, adding: “I want them to be out in the fresh air. I want them to have a good life … I kind of just think, would I want my child to grow up in that environment? Would I want my child to go through what I went through?“
But he now says that, when it comes to Snooker 900 tournaments, he would be more than willing to encourage them to play if they wanted to.
“It’s a great format. Snooker is a hard game. If you’ve played traditional snooker, it’s a tough game,” O’Sullivan stated.
“I’d never say to my son, ‘Play snooker’. I try to take him away from it. But if he says, ‘I want to play 900’, I’ll go, ‘Yeah, fine’. You’ve got one hour or two hours of pain, but enjoyment. It’s fun. It’s good. Go for it.”
There has been increasing talk over the past 12 months of what life beyond the main snooker tour holds for O’Sullivan, given he operated on a part-time schedule during the 2025/26 season.
He stated in April that he was ‘working with the sponsors and promoters on my schedule‘, but hasn’t yet announced what that schedule will entail in terms of specific events.
But ‘The Rocket’ says he is reassured by what Snooker 900 can offer as he transitions to a new stage of his career.
“I love the way that Jason has kept it as a kind of club atmosphere. Growing up as kids in the snooker clubs… I’ve always said they were probably the happiest days of my life, playing in that environment. The atmosphere, really intimate – it’s exciting.
“Someone like me, or John Higgins, we’ve always got an eye on life after the main tour. It kind of gives you that hope to keep playing against top-level players, and being able to adapt and compete and give back to the fans.”
Snooker 900 is available to watch live and exclusively on Pluto TV. The interview with Ronnie O’Sullivan will be available to watch live tonight at 11pm BST, or on demand from Tuesday 7th July.
New interview episodes drop daily throughout the week, featuring exclusive interviews with snooker greats including Cliff Thorburn. Catch them all entirely for free and on demand on Pluto TV.
It’s nice to see Ronnie being enthusiastic about something snooker, and I can’t praise Jason enough for all the creativity he has shown and the work he has put in for years now, trying to develop and promote the sport.
There is one big negative point though … going by a recent tweet, Jason seems to be convinced that Pluto TV is available worldwide. It’s not. It’s only available in the UK … unless you use a virtual private network (vpn) to cheat the system…
The Snooker 900 Global Championship is the “youngest” of Jason Francis snooker’s brainchild. Ronnie is competing in it, and the event is already at thee semi-finals stage.
Here is the piece written by the always extremely knowledgeable David Caulfield, explaining everything you may need to know about this new concept.
How the semi-finals look at Snooker 900 Global Championship
Ronnie O’Sullivan is one of four players who are still in the hunt for glory at the semi-finals stage of the 2026 Snooker 900 Global Championship.
The Rocket is bidding to claim silverware in consecutive weeks following his triumph at the World Seniors Championship last Sunday.
In the inaugural staging of the Snooker 900 Global Championship in Reading, O’Sullivan edged Billy Castle in a dramatic 5-4 tussle in the last of Friday’s quarter-finals.
The 50 year-old, who is one of the backers behind the emerging Snooker 900 format, was pushed all the way by the amateur competitor but eventually got over the winning line with a break of 79 in the deciding frame.
O’Sullivan will face Kyren Wilson in the last four after the 2024 world champion also survived a scare before coming through as a 5-4 winner against Pankaj Advani.
India’s Advani, who was a professional on the main tour from 2012 until 2014, led 4-3 but miscued when in with an opportunity to seal victory.
Wilson pounced to take the game to a deciding frame, which he duly won to book his spot in the semi-finals.
The other semi-final encounter on Saturday will be between Luca Brecel and Joe Perry, who each also came through close fixtures in the last eight.
Brecel beat Florian Nuessle in another deciding-frame belter while Perry orchestrated a 5-3 triumph over Shaun Murphy.
Murphy was playing in his first competitive match since losing the World Snooker Championship final to Wu Yize at the start of the month.
But it was Perry who extended his good run of form having reached the final of last week’s World Seniors Championship where he was beaten 10-4 by O’Sullivan.
A second title-deciding bout in as many weeks between the pair could be on the cards, but they must first overcome their respective hurdles in the penultimate round of the competition.
The Snooker 900 Global Championship, with a total prize fund of £100,000, is using the new variation of rules that has gained popularity over the course of the last few years.
Frames are played over just 15 minutes – or 900 seconds – with a shot clock in operation and the ball-in-hand rule enabled when there are fouls.
It has proven to be entertaining to watch, although a bit like last week’s World Seniors Championship, some have questioned the generosity of the pockets.
The semi-finals both take place on Saturday over 11 frames, with the O’Sullivan-Wilson clash at 12:00 BST and the Brecel-Perry tie at 18:00 BST.
The best-of-19 frames final is then scheduled for Sunday, with live coverage available in the UK and selected regions on Pluto TV.
Yesterday evening, after returning from Athens where I went for medical tests, that yielded reassuring results, I was able to watch and enjoy, the Wilson v Advani game. It was a good entertaining match. I always liked Pankaj, as a person and as a player. He was however terribly homesick when on the tour. Living in the UK didn’t suit him at all.
Zhao Xintong won the 2026 Tour Championship in Manchester, having previously won the other two events of the “Players Series. He beat Judd Trump convincingly in the final.
Zhao Xintong boldened his status as the best player in the world on current form as he thrashed Judd Trump 10-3 in the final of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship, becoming the first man to win all three events in the Players Series in the same season.
China’s Zhao was imperious all week in Manchester, conceding just eight frames on his way to the title as he showcased his tremendous long potting and seemingly effortless break-building. He beat Chris Wakelin 10-4 before dismantling John Higgins 10-1 – the heaviest defeat of Higgins’ career – then comfortably saw off an out-of-sorts Trump. A fierce battle was expected today between the World Champion and world number one, but it turned out to be a one-sided affair as Zhao pulled away from 5-3 to win the last five frames in the evening session.
Trump admitted: “Over the last two months Zhao has been the best player in the world. I always enjoy the challenge, it’s up to me to go away and try to improve.”
After a relatively quiet first half to this season, highlighted only by winning the invitational Riyadh Season Snooker Championship in November, in recent weeks 29-year-old Zhao has recaptured the form which made him the first Asian to conquer the Crucible last Spring. In February he won both the World Grand Prix and Players Championship, and he has now completed an unprecedented hat-trick of Players Series titles.
The top prize of £150,000 takes Zhao’s prize money for this season past the £1 million mark, and he climbs to a career high of fourth in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings. He could even take over as world number one in Sheffield, albeit only if he lands the £500,000 jackpot and Trump goes out in the first round.
Zhao has now won his first six ranking finals – previously only achieved by Steve Davis, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson – and on the all-time list he is now level with Ken Doherty, Stuart Bingham and Ali Carter. The left-hander becomes the 12th player to win three ranking titles in a single season, and surely now heads to the Crucible as the clear favourite.
Trump misses out on a 32nd ranking title, which would have brought him within one of Higgins in fourth place on the all-time list, and has now lost 22 ranking finals. He has landed the German Masters crown this season, but the 36-year-old has finished second best at the Northern Ireland Open, Champion of Champions, UK Championship and now this event in Manchester, where he had never previously reached the final.
Zhao is an amazing player and I love to watch him at the table.
In less than two weeks, he will enter the Crucible arena as the defending Champion to start his defence of the title. No first time World Snooker Champion has ever defended at the Crucible but I certainly don’t write Zhao off … he could well be the one who breaks “The Curse”.
The qualifiers for the 2026 World Championship start today and those who will be action in the first round need to win four matches to get at the Crucible … a formidable task. Good luck to all players involved.
