Six Champions Crowned at Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational
Six champions from three different nations won titles at the second staging of the WDBS Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational in Shanghai, China last weekend.
A combination of cueists from China and international invitees made up a field of 31 players who competed across six classification groups at the two-day event.
The tournament was preceded by a special welcome banquet at the Steel Convention & Expo Centre where the event was formally opened by Miss Xue Sasa, Vice Governor of the Baoshan District, alongside key officials from the Shanghai and Baoshan District government and the Shanghai Billiards and Snooker Association.
Among those in attendance at the formal opening of the event were WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson, who delivered a keynote speech, as well as former world champions Stephen Hendry and John Higgins.
On the baize, it was Thailand who saw the most success as their cueists picked up the gold medal in three of the six competitions held across the weekend.
There was success for a duo of 2023 World Abilitysport Games bronze medalists in Group’s 1 and 2 as Numpol Thongpusawan and Surasit Loisaratrakul overcame Gary Swift and Tony Southern to secure the title and gain revenge on the Englishmen, who had both defeated them in the semi-finals of the Games back in December.
Boonmark Voranipit made it a hat-trick of gold medals for Thailand by defeating England’s David Church 2-0 in the final of Group 4 – bouncing back from defeat to Church in the initial group phase to earn the title.
Poland’s Adam Wilk picked up the sole gold medal for a European cueist as he beat Hong Kong China’s Andy Lam in a tense deciding frame of the Group 3 final, while there were titles from two Chinese players as Lu Yun and Yang Junhui defeated fellow countrymen Xue Wen and Mo Quanhu on home soil to win the gold in Group’s 5 and 6.
WDBS would like to thank the Shanghai Disabled Persons’ Federation, Baoshan District, Shanghai Sports Federation, Shanghai Billiards Association, Baoshan Disabled Persons’ Federation, Baoshan Sports Association, Guizhou Weboo Sports Co., Ltd, Lushan Hengkang Slate Co., Ltd and all the co-organisers for their support with the 2nd Shanghai Disability Invitational.
Make sure you have a look at the gallery, and, if some day you have the opportunity to attend one of those WDBS events, please do. You won’t regret it. Those gals and guys are amazing and so is the creativity they show in seeking and finding solutions and implements that help them overcome their disabilities.
Champions were crowned across four classification groups last weekend as the new WDBS season got underway with the second edition of the German Open in Rüsselsheim, Germany.
A total of 21 players competed in the event at SC Breakers in Rüsselsheim, including a record five German cueists, as three reigning champions defended their crowns while there was a first time winner of the German Open in the merged Group 6-8 competition.
On the Saturday morning, WDBS was delighted to welcome special guests Rouven Czylok (President of Billiardsport in Hessen), Annette Tettenborn (Rüsselsheim Head of Sports and Exercise) and Patrick Burghardt (Mayor of Rüsselsheim) to the WDBS German Open.
Germany’s Hannes Hermsdorf dropped just a single frame across seven matches as he claimed the Group 3 title on home soil for the second consecutive year.
Six competitors entered the Group 3 competition as the world’s top three (Kal Mattu, Joe Hardstaff and Kit Kennedy) were joined by group debutant Peter Hull as well as Hermsdorf and 89-year-old Cezar Pereira Vaz from the host nation.
Both Hermsdorf and Hull made impressive starts to the season with four straight victories to secure qualification for the knockout stages, before the German player overcame his English opponent 2-0 in their final group stage match to take top spot.
On the final day, Hermsdorf whitewashed Hardstaff to book his place in the final where he would once again face Hull after the Englishman battled past world number one Mattu 3-1 in the last four.
The 31-year-old German moved within one of the title by taking the first two frames of the best-of-five contest. Hull wasn’t going down without a fight, however, and took the third on a respotted black to reduce the deficit.
Ultimately, however, Hermsdorf was too strong on the table as he won the fourth frame by a 59-15 scoreline to win the German Open title for the second time.
David Church defeated Nigel Brasier 5-2 in the Group 4 final in Rüsselsheim to defend the title he won last year.
For Church, who recently travelled to China to compete in the Shanghai Disability Snooker Invitational, it marked a first ranking event title since last year’s German Open as the world number three dominated the group.
A trio of whitewash victories over Steve Cartwright, Andy Johnson and Brasier in the initial group phase, which also saw him make the weekend’s overall highest break of 63, meant Church booked his place in the title match.
There, he would meet Brasier, who had earned his place in a second consecutive ranking event final with impressive 3-0 wins over Johnson and Cartwright.
Despite losing 3-0 to Church on the previous day, Brasier made a strong start to the best-of-nine frame final as he moved into a 2-1 lead.
Church was able to take the fourth to restore parity heading into the mid-session interval before finding his form at the perfect time after the break to win three consecutive frames and complete the defence of his German Open title.
Dave Bolton won his seventh WDBS title but was forced to battle to defend his German Open crown in Rüsselsheim.
Bolton, world number two Dalton Lawrence and Belgian Open finalist Dave Waller were joined in Group 5 by German WDBS debutants Christian Hirth and Michael Becher.
The two home nation cueists made dream starts to life on the WDBS tour with victories over Waller and Lawrence respectively and both were able to secure their place in the semi-finals at their maiden event.
Hirth impressively topped the group stage with one of the surprise results of the weekend as he inflicted only a second ever defeat in a WDBS ranking event on Group 5’s top ranked player Bolton.
After losing the first frame of a semi-final contest against Becher, Bolton found his form and fired in breaks of 51, 44, 40 and 33 to complete a 3-1 victory and book his place in the final.
There, he looked certain to face a rematch against Hirth as the German moved into a 2-0 lead over Lawrence in their last four. However, the English two-time ranking event winner battled back to force a decider before taking the match on the final ball.
Lawrence’s battling qualities continued to show in the title match as, despite breaks of 42 and 30 from Bolton, he was able share the first four frames and force another match to a decider.
This time, however, Bolton proved too strong when it mattered as he took the decider by a scoreline of 73-23 to successfully defend his German Open crown.
Mike Gillespie defeated Ronnie Allen 3-0 in the Group 6-8 final to win the German Open for the first time in his career.
Due to entry numbers, the Group 6, 7 and 8 classification groups were combined into a single event of six cueists and it was two competitors from the visual Group 7 that reached the title match.
Group 7’s world number one Gillespie and 80-year-old Welshman Allen were the dominant players in the initial group phase, both earning whitewash victories in four matches before Gillespie overcame his Welsh opponent in their group stage meeting.
Group 6B cueists Oliver Hanson and Lee Hague completed the semi-final line-up but Gillespie and Allen proved too strong in Sunday’s knockout stages as they set up a final meeting with 3-0 and 3-1 victories respectively.
The 63-year-old Englishman continued his fine form when it mattered most as he impressively secured a 3-0 victory in the final to win the German Open title without dropping a single frame across the weekend.
Dave Waller bounced back from a disappointing start to the weekend to claim Challenge Cup glory at the German Open.
The Challenge Cup event sees competitors who do not qualify for Sunday’s knockout stages compete for the title and Group 5’s Waller overcame Kit Kennedy and German debutant Dominik Dobrowolski to reach the final.
There, he would face Blake Munton from Group 8 after the 28-year-old Englishman defeated Steve Cartwright 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The hard fought best-of-three frame final went all the way but it was Waller who won the deciding frame to win his first title on the WDBS tour.
WDBS would like to thank everyone at SC Breakers and all the players, referees and officials who helped to make the 2024 German Open a success.
The tour continues next month with The Cube UK Disability Championship at Barratts in Northampton. Enter now.
Calabrese arrived as the man in form having won the previous Q Tour event and finishing top of the series ranking list in the previous season.
He began his tournament with a 3-0 victory over Paul Balzer before showing stunning form to defeat Robin Beggs 3-0 with back-to-back century breaks of 106 and 102.
The Australian cueist was forced to battle through two deciding frames against Ian Barber and Paul Norris to reach the semi-finals and then overcame Chi Kin Yueng with a whitewash win to book his place in the title match.
There he would face Kerde, who had beaten Justin Sajich, Gary Nunn, Shaun Dalitz, Xavier Daw and finally Steve Mifsud in a deciding frame to set up a meeting with Calabrese.
Breaks of 78 and 56 helped Calabrese storm into a 3-0 lead and move one frame away from the title, but Kerde battled back to take the next two and reduce his deficit to just a single frame.
It was too little too late for Kerde, however, as Calabrese was able to get over the line in the sixth frame and secure more Q Tour glory.
The WPBSA Q Tour Asia-Pacific series continues in September with Event 3 in Auckland, New Zealand.
For many players, and fans, the 2024/25 season will start in earnest in two day, on Thursday 25 July 2024, with the 2024 Xian Grand Prix qualifiers. You know my opinion on having those qualifiers held in the UK but, for now at least, that’s the way it is. Anyway… with those events upon us, WST has made two announcements.
The first player to make 100 century breaks on the World Snooker Tour during the 2024/25 season will win a massive £100,000 bonus.
This new WST initiative gives all tour players the chance to chase the landmark of 100 tons in a single season.
This has only ever been achieved twice before – by Neil Robertson who made 103 centuries during the 2013/14 campaign, and Judd Trump who compiled 102 in 2019/20.
All events on the 2024/25 WST calendar count towards a player’s tally, and the first to reach 100 centuries will earn the bonus. If two (or more players) reach the 100 milestone having played the same number of frames in the same round of the same tournament, then the bonus will be shared.
WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “We are delighted to introduce this new bonus as it creates an extra storyline which will run throughout the season. If a player is on target for the ‘century of centuries’ going into the last few events then the drama will build with every match!”
Trump tops the charts so far this season having made ten centuries in winning last week’s Shanghai Masters. Fans can keep track of which players are topping the centuries list here
Before I come to how I feel about the initiative … following the link above sends me to this:
WTF is this ??? Why on earth do fans need to sign in to a site to see such information ???
Anyway… of course, fans love big breaks and centuries, so encouraging the players to go for them makes some sense BUT this is a professional sport and you would expect players to try to win above anything else. Hum?
TOP 144 SNOOKER PLAYERS TO STAR IN THE FIRST SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS
144 of the best snooker players are set to compete in the inaugural Saudi Arabia Masters in Green Halls, Riyadh from August 30th – September 7th.
The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, a world ranking event, will feature a mammoth prize pool of over £2 million. This tournament is part of an exciting legacy commitment with the Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation, aiming to develop snooker and pool in the region over next decade.
The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will be open to all 128 tour players, plus 16 wild card players selected by the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation, to create the total field of 144 players.
Stars names including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Allen, John Higgins, Mark Selby, World Champion Kyren Wilson and the rest of the world’s top 32, as well as leading women players Reanne Evans, Mink Nutcharut, Bai Yulu and Baipat Siripaporn will be in the line-up for the first ever ranking event staged in Saudi Arabia.
The event will start on Friday August 30th, with the thrilling final set for Saturday September 7th. Further details on ticket information will be announced soon.
They will compete in the same format as the Snooker World Championship:
Round one: Seeds 81-112 v seeds 113-144 (August 30th) Round two: Those 32 winners v seeds 49 -80 (August 31st) Round three: Those 32 winners v seeds 17-48 (September 1st) Round four: Those 32 winners play each other (September 2nd) Round five: Those 16 winners v seeds 1-16 in the last 32 (September 3rd)
Reigning Snooker World Champion, Kyren Wilson will be among the elite players heading to Riyadh: “This is an incredibly exciting time for the World Snooker Tour. I am looking forward to competing in this new ranking event and aiming for the top spot in Riyadh.” Wilson said.
Saudi Arabia Billiards & Snooker Federation President, Dr Nasser Saab Al-Shammari, added: “History will be written once more for snooker in Saudi Arabia, and we could not be more thrilled. Seeing world class talents from across the globe compete here will be truly special, offering both the players and fans an unforgettable experience.”
WST Chairman, Steve Dawson said: “Given the magnitude of this outstanding new event, in working with our partners in Saudi Arabia we felt it was crucial to have all 144 players in Riyadh. This will be the only one of snooker’s four majors with such an extensive field competing in the final stages.
“Fans in the region will have the opportunity to watch a diverse range of players, from up-and-coming rookies and local wild cards to the top 16 seeds. It promises to be a fantastic celebration of snooker, and for all of the players, it’s an amazing opportunity to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, enjoy the culture and meet the fans.
“This is a huge ten-year partnership which will focus on developing participation in snooker at all levels, so to have such a wide array of talented players in Riyadh for this incredible new tournament is an important focal point for that journey. We look forward to working with our partners on the inaugural event.”
The major ten-year deal for this event also includes the World Pool Championship – the crown jewel of the World Nineball Tour – which was recently staged in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and won by Fedor Gorst, who defeated Eklent Kaci 15-14 in an epic final.
As part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has emerged as a premier destination for some of the biggest global sports events, embracing both male and female athletes. From football and motorsports to tennis, equestrian, and esports, Saudi Arabia has welcomed over 2.6 million enthusiastic sports fans to witness these world-class competitions.
The title of this piece is a bit baffling as there is no snooker ranking list outside the one WST “offers”, and that list, based on earnings in professional events, shouldn’t really take amateurs into account and doesn’t comprise 144 players anyway at this stage of the season!1 OK, so, the field will be made of all the pros who will enter the event plus amateurs, including 16 wildcards chosen by the Saudis.
The good thing is that it has a tiered structure and all matches will be played at the venue. No qualifiers in the UK for this one. All players welcome in Saudi Arabia!2 The less good thing is that given the schedule it can only be a very short format unless the venue can accommodate a huge number of tables. How many, if any, will be televised or streamed, and via what channel(s) isn’t known yet.
Unless they use a secret ELO ranking list … but I’m dreaming… ↩︎
Just as well probably that there are currently no Israēli players on tour … ↩︎
World Grand Prix move to Hong Kong part of plan to reduce UK’s snooker dominance
Phil Haigh
Ronnie O’Sullivan won the World Grand Prix last season in Leicester (Picture: Getty Images)
The World Grand Prix is likely to leave the UK for the first time since it arrived on the World Snooker Tour calendar in 2015 and that looks set to be a sign of things to come in the coming years.
Talks are at an advanced stage for the tournament to be held in Hong Kong this season, in the new 10,000-seat indoor arena at Kai Tak Sports Park, which is still under construction.
Official confirmation of the move to the new venue is yet to arrive, but WST are ‘very confident’ that it will happen, in what would be a big step for the event which has been held in Leicester, Cheltenham, Coventry and Milton Keynes in recent years.
This is part of a plan to spread the sport across the globe a little more fairly as the World Snooker Tour is still mainly based in the UK.
Last season there were 23 professional tournaments held in the UK, with just seven abroad across China, Germany and Saudi Arabia.
This season there are 20 events currently on the calendar with 13 in the UK and seven elsewhere – although with more to be added to the schedule in the near future including the Grand Prix and World Masters of Snooker.
This is getting closer to a 50-50 split, which WST say is the target in the short-term, with the potential for more events to be abroad than in the UK in future.
A WST spokesperson told Metro: ‘You’ll see going forward, the Grand Prix being a great example, less events in the UK at smaller venues. There’s no room for us now to keep doing stuff in smaller places.
‘We’re looking to shift to a 50-50 model in the near future. By 2026/27 it should be 50-50 and it might even go beyond that, which is what it should be really. So there will be fewer UK events but they’ll be world class.’
New events overseas have joined the calendar this season, with the Xi’an Grand Prix in China and the big-money Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters coming up next month, both for the first time, with the World Masters of Snooker in Riyadh is likely to return for a second time in October.
Talk of a new tournament in Qatar was made public by Barry Hearn during the World Championship, and while that remains on the cards for 2025, it may be next season rather than the current one.
Where there has been decline, though, is in Europe where there is only the German Masters on the calendar this season, one event down from last season which saw the European Masters also hosted in Germany.
With the 2023 world champion being Belgian and hugely popular exhibition events held in the likes of Finland and Bulgaria, the presence in Europe is disappointing in terms of how global the game currently is.
However, WST insist they are ‘always looking at Europe’ and ‘desperately trying’ to expand the tour across the continent.
‘We need to move away from relying on the UK market,’ said the WST spokesperson.
Luca Brecel’s 2023 World Championship triumph is yet to lead to more European events (Picture: Getty Images)
With the imminent move for the Grand Prix, more of the ‘smaller’ ranking events in the UK could also be moved abroad or swapped for new international tournaments, with the likes of the English Open currently held in Brentwood certainly a candidate to change.
As for the World Grand Prix, confirmation is expected in the coming weeks on the venue, dates and TV coverage, with talks ongoing on all fronts.
Hong Kong is the likely destination, but dates in January and March are possible and whether ITV4 will continue to televise the event is still being discussed.
The event will remain the first in the three-tournament series which leads into the smaller field Players Championship and Tour Championship.
At last !!!
Well this is good news, well overdue but good news. And if WST is really trying to expand the tour in mainland Europe, I’m not sure what is stopping them. The appetite from the fans is there as the success of this summer exhibitions has shown. What I do know though is that Brexit isn’t making it easier and that there has to be something worth it for the local promoters/organisers. During the PTCs era, I know that organising those events cost the local promotors and staff a lot of work, time and energy and they got very little out of it. That model can’t work in the long term.
After reading the article in the Hong Kong press about the possibility for the World Grand Prix to move to Hong Kong this season, Michael Day wrote to World Snooker, seeking more information … and he got an answer!
Here is Michael’s piece, reflecting on WST answer and the possible move. I have highlighted some parts in bold as they answer questions that have been raised here and on social media in general.
World Grand Prix snooker likely to be heading to Hong Kong
Credit: AFP via Getty Images/Peter Parks | AFP via Getty Images/Peter Parks
The 2025 World Grand Prix is on course to be held in Hong Kong according to a spokesperson from the World Snooker Tour (WST).
There has been activity on social media over the last few days about the future location of the prestigious ranking event following published articles online from both Hong Kong Billiards Sports and the South China Morning Post.
Totally Snookered reached out to the WST, who have confirmed they are in advanced discussions with partners in Hong Kong to hold the tournament this season, and are hoping to officially announce details in the coming weeks.
Due to laws on hosting sports events in the country, organisers in Hong Kong are obliged to publicly announce intentions through an invitation to tender, hence why there has already been communication online about a potential new home for the World Grand Prix.
It is suggested the event will be held at the Kai Tak Sports Park – a new 10,000-seat venue – in the first quarter of 2025, depending on its availability.
There has been some confusion online whether this would be a new event, but the WST spokesperson confirmed it is the existing World Grand Prix which remains as the opening leg of the three-pronged Players Series alongside the Players Championship and Tour Championship.
Both the 2025 Players Championship (Telford, 17-23 March) and 2025 Tour Championship (Manchester, 31 March-6 April) are already scheduled on this season’s calendar, but the dates and location for the World Grand Prix – which would need to be played before the Players Championship – have yet to be mentioned.
Despite the potential move to the Far East there are no plans to change the format of the competition with only the top 32 players from the one-year ranking list invited to compete. However, as is often the case with Asian events, local wildcards may also take part.
Since the creation of the very popular Players Series several years ago, all events have been held in the United Kingdom with host broadcaster ITV continuing to support the Series with live televised and online coverage throughout the three events from start to finish. WST are keen for this event to remain on ITV and talks are ongoing.
Hong Kong has a rich snooker history having initially hosted professional invitational events from the 1980s. The Hong Kong Masters returned in 2017 and 2022; at the latter installment, Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated home hero Marco Fu in the final in front of 9,000 spectators at the Hong Kong Coliseum – a record for a live snooker audience at a venue.
In 1989, the country hosted its one and only ranking event to date – the Hong Kong Open – when Mike Hallett ousted Dene O’Kane 9-8 in the final. This was the first professional ranking event ever to be held in Asia.
As well as three-time ranking event winner Fu, Hong Kong has had several professional players down the years, including three-time world women’s champion Ng On Yee. This season, Cheung Ka Wai plays his maiden professional campaign having won the World Snooker Federation Championship earlier in the year and Wang Yuchen returns to the tour after graduating from the UK Q School.
Elsewhere in cuesports, Hong Kong’s Robbie Capito recently won the UK Open 9-Ball Pool Championship – a big event on the World Nineball Tour.
These are exciting times for the sport as the World Snooker Tour continues to expand globally. This season there is another new ranking event in China (Xi’an Grand Prix) as well as the inaugural edition of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters which is set to hold a prize fund in excess of £2 million.
There are also rumours of further events to be held in the Middle East, including in Qatar.
I mainly watched Group 16 yesterday. Zhou Yuelong was very poor on the day, it has to be said. Mink, on the other hand, performed better than I expected. She managed two draws. OK, Zhou Yuelong was far from his best, but she got a draw against the eventual group winner, Fan Zhengyi, as well and she secured some precious points by finishing third in the group. She is clearly working hard and progressing. She is a petite, slender women. She lacks cue power but she has a very decent safety game as well as the right mindset and attitude. Is that enough to give her a chance on the main tour? The honest answer is that I’m not sure. What I’m very sure of though is that she deserves respect, a lot of it. She certainly doesn’t deserve the contempt that so often transpires through disparaging comments made by insecure machos in chats and posts. You know who you are.
Ali Carter got his season off to a strong start by topping Group Five at the BetVictor Championship League and earning his place in Stage Two.
The Captain opened his day with a 2-2 draw against Joshua Thomond, where he lost the final frame to surrender victory. However, he recovered well with a 3-1 defeat of Indian tour rookie Kreish Gurbaxani. That set up a group decider against Xing Zihao, who won his opening two matches with Thomond and Gurbaxani. It was Carter who crafted breaks of 87 and 73 en route to a 3-1 victory and the next round.
Former BetVictor European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi prevailed in Group 16. He opened with a 3-0 whitewash win over former World Seniors finalist Alfie Burden, before making breaks of 121 and 65 in a 2-2 draw with women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut. Fan faced Chinese compatriot Zhou Yuelong in a crucial final game, but crafted contributions of 113 and 57 in a group sealing 3-1 victory.
Former World Champion Ken Doherty has been awarded an Invitational Tour Card which will allow him to compete on the World Snooker Tour for the next two seasons.
Ireland’s Doherty has been ever-present on the tour since 1990. He would have been relegated at the end of last season having finished 79th in the world rankings, but has accepted the Invitational Tour Card which gives him the chance to enter events during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons.
Doherty conquered the Crucible in 1997 and in all has won over 20 professional tournaments.
WST Chairman Steve Dawson said: “In view of Ken’s tremendous record as a player and a fantastic ambassador for snooker, we had no hesitation in offering him a tour card. He is a great asset to our sport and also remains very competitive as a player and no doubt fans will continue to enjoy watching him in action over the next two seasons.”
Stephen Hendry was also offered an Invitational Tour Card but has decided not to accept. The seven-time World Champion had held the card since 2020, but now feels that he is unable to commit to the tour due to other priorities including the growth of his CueTips YouTube Channel and brand, broadcast commitments and ambassadorial role in China.
“Let’s be honest, I wasn’t pulling up any trees, was I?
“I was a little bit surprised with how good the standard was, but I’ve just got so many other work commitments, I won’t be able to dedicate enough time to practising.
“I know the game inside out, I still know all the shots, but unfortunately the body is not performing like my brain wants it to.“
Stephen Hendry did the right thing. Respect. It’s always hard to cope with the situation when your body starts to fail you because of age. You have to accept it and adapt. It’s not easy at all. Ken took the offer and I saw some very negative comments about his decision on social media. “He should leave his spot to young players who are better than him”. Possibly … BUT … bear in mind that the likes of Ken and Jimmy still put bums on seats, quite a lot of bums too. They bring money to the game that way, money that, amongst other things, helps supporting to the rookies and young on tour financially. No matter how good they may be, these are players very few would pay to watch, quite simply because they don’t know them (yet).
ohn Higgins’ 33rd season on the pro tour started with an early exit from the BetVictor Championship League as he finished third in Group Nine, behind Ma Hailong and Ben Mertens.
Four-time World Champion Higgins has been ever-present among the top 16 since 1995, and kept that sequence going by beating Mark Allen 13-12 in the last 16 at the Crucible in April. But his status among the elite remains under threat as 2024/25 gets underway.
The Scot opened strongly today in Leicester with a 3-0 win over tour rookie Artemijs Zizins, firing breaks of 95, 74 and 120. But Higgins then lost 3-0 to Mertens, who scored runs of 68, 86 and 82. Meanwhile, China’s Ma drew 2-2 with Mertens and beat Zizins 3-0, which meant he only needed a draw in the last match of the day against Higgins. A break of 111 gave Ma the opening frame, and he lost the second but then snatched the third on the final black to go 2-1 up and guarantee top spot in the group. Higgins made it 2-2 with a 62 clearance in frame four, but it was not enough.
Group Six was topped by Gary Wilson, who enjoyed his best ever season in 2023/24, winning two ranking titles. The world number 11 saw off Huang Jiahao 3-0 then beat Michael Holt 3-1 with a top break of 97. He still needed a draw in his last match against Joe Perry and fell 1-0 behind, but Wilson made an 83 for 1-1 then added frame three, before Perry clinched a 2-2 draw to secure second place.
I saw nothing from group 6 yesterday but group 9 was certainly very interesting, featuring three young players, one from Latvia, one from China and one from Belgium. They all delivered. Ma Hailong played really well and stayed focused throughout. Ben Mertens played very well in his first two matches but then, rather surprisingly, lost by 3-0 to Artemijs Zizins, when he had a very good chance to top the group. During that match, Ben appeared tired and suffering from the heat. Artemijs Zizins himself showed some very good things: he pots well, his positional play is good but he needs to improve in the safety department and risk management.
WPBSA Q TOUR GLOBAL EXPANDED FOR 2024/25 The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association Group of organisations (WPBSA) has today announced the continued expansion of WPBSA Q Tour Global, the series which provides an elite pathway for talented snooker players around the world to earn their place on the World Snooker Tour.
The announcement follows the biggest-ever Q Tour season to date which saw 551 players (individual players taken from all the Q Tour regional ranking lists) from 44 countries complete 1174 matches across four continents.
WPBSA Q Tour Global will continue to grow over the coming 12 months, with an increased number of regional series’ each set to provide players for the season-ending Global Playoff.
WPBSA Q TOUR EUROPE
Topped last season by former Shoot Out champion Michael Holt, Q Tour Europe will return with seven events for the 2024/25 season.
For the first time, the series will include four tournaments in mainland Europe, with the remaining three to be staged within the UK. 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.
Following player feedback, the match lengths from the last 64 stage onwards has been increased with each match to be played over the best of seven frames (including the final), with the last 16 moved to Sunday morning to accommodate this change.
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 Europe are:
Q Tour 1 – 16-18 August 2024 – Northern Snooker Centre, UK
Q Tour 2 – 13-15 September 2024 – Bulgarian Snooker Academy, BULGARIA
Q Tour 3 – 4-6 October 2024 – Snookerhallen, SWEDEN
Q Tour 4 – 8-10 November 2024 – Club 200, UK
Q Tour 5 – 13-15 December 2024 – Vienna, AUSTRIA
Q Tour 6 – 10-12 January 2025 – Zurich, SWITZERLAND
Q Tour 7 – 7-9 February 2025 – Landywood Snooker Club, UK
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 2024 UK Q School Order of Merit eligible to compete.
Dylan Emery, Simon Blackwell, Iulian Boiko, Joshua Thomond, Paul Deaville, Daniel Womersley, Anton Kazakov, Joshua Cooper, Florian Nuessle, Mark Joyce, Lewis Ullah, Gerard Greene, Kayden Brierley, Umut Dikme, Sean O’Sullivan, Andres Petrov, Craig Steadman, Connor Benzey, Barry Pinches, Zachary Richardson, Josh Mulholland, James Cahill, Ryan Davies, Lee Daegyu, Alfie Davies, Hamim Hussain, Steven Hallworth, Jenson Kendrick, Alex Clenshaw, Andy Hicks, Rory McLeod, Harvey Chandler
The top 8 from the 2024 Asia-Oceania Q School Order of Merit
Lan Yuhao, Ali Gharahgozlou, Ehsan Heydari Nezhad, Kwok Wai Fung, Xiao Long Liang, Yang Gao, Amin Sanjaei, Muhammed Naseem
The eight highest ranked junior players on the 2024 UK Q School Order of Merit, not already qualified.
Vladislav Gradinari, Shaun Liu, Riley Powell, Steven Wardropper, Adam Abbas, Edward Jones, Oliver Sykes, Aidan Gallagher
EVENT ENTRY
The 48 qualified players will be contacted directly by email with entry instructions after 1 July.Each player will be required to pay a block entry fee of £525 by 12:00pm on 5 July and will be guaranteed a place in the last 64 of each Q Tour Europe tournament.
Following this date, subject to the number of players who have accepted and paid for their Q Tour 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 10 July to claim their place.
Open entry for all Friday qualifying tournaments will be opened to all players from no later than 12 July. 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 to Thursdays subject to the number of tables available at the club and time available.
WPBSA Q Tour Global will continue to incorporate regional Q Tour Series’ staged around the world as part of the planned international expansion of Q Tour.
Following last season’s inaugural Middle East, Americas and Asia-Pacific Series, each of these series will be expanded for the 2024/25 season. They will be joined by the CBSA China Tour which becomes a recognised part of Q Tour for the first time.
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 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.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The 48 players eligible to accept a seeded place on Q Tour Europe will be contacted from 1 July 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.
There are several interesting and encouraging aspects to this announcement.
For the first time the “European leg” features more events set to be played in mainland Europe than in the UK
The format has been changed to make the matches slightly longer. This is will favour the better players.
The inclusion of the CBSA Tour into the Global Q-Tour really surprised me, but in a good way.
Ronnie is scheduled to play today in the 2024 ranking CLS. I have no expectations. I doubt that he enjoys playing in front of nobody and having to wait hours between his matches. His goal, if he shows up, will be most probably to prepare the best he can for the next event that will really be important to him: the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
Ronnie continues his “China Tour” with Jason Francis and it’s not just for exhibitions.
As reported by WST, Ronnie also took part to the media day to “launch” of the 2024 Xi’an World Grand, a new event that will be played for the first time later during this summer.
O’Sullivan Helps Launch Xi’an Grand Prix Media Event
On the afternoon of May 28th, the press conference for the 2024 World Snooker Xi’an Grand Prix was held at Xi’an SKP Center. Legendary seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, along with over 200 people including representatives from more than 70 brands, guests, fans, and media reporters were in attendance. This event was hosted by Shaanxi Tourism Group and Shaanxi Sports Industry Group.
The press conference was attended by distinguished guests and leaders, including Anthea Heffernan, Regional Cooperation Counsellor at the British Embassy in China; Wang Xiaojiong, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of CBSA; Zhang Wangping, Deputy Director and Party Leadership Group Member of the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Bureau; He Dong, Party Committee Member and Deputy General Manager of Shaanxi Tourism Group; and Mike Ganley, Tournament Director for WST.
Steve Dawson, Chairman WST, and Jason Ferguson, Chairman of the WPBSA, recorded video messages for the press conference. Mike Ganley participated in the guest dialogue session, where he talked about the background for the event to be hosted in Xi’an.
The 2024 World Snooker Xi’an Grand Prix is scheduled to take place from August 19 to 25th at the Xi’an Qujiang Sports Center. Top international players will gather in the ancient city of Xi’an to compete in thrilling matches.
Jason also shared a couple of photos
The second photo is from the 10000 seats venue… Jason also shared this short video:
Before that they were in Shanghai and I never realised that they were doing the exhibition in Disneyland!
And again there is also a short video…
And now they have arrived in Hong Kong
For a sport to really grow big… it needs big audiences and China brings that. That’s why the top players love it there. It may not please the British fans, but it’s the commercial reality. And that’s why it would be good for the sport to have it’s World Championship traveling around the World in big venues, situated in big cities. History and traditions are all well and good but it shouldn’t become an obstacle to the growth and development of the sport, because, it is does, it will kill that sport eventually.
And some more pictures found by Kalacs – thank you Kalacs!
According to automatic translation: Ronnie walking the city, on a film set (looks like a venue to me) and visiting a Temple
