China News Agency, Beijing, August 16th. This season's snooker European Masters competition kicked off in Viertra, Germany on the evening of the 16th Beijing time. The defending champion and highly anticipated Chinese "post-00" teenager Fan Zheng One broke out in the delayed qualifying match, and lost 1:5 and missed the main match.
However, in the 4 main matches in the first period of the first day, all 4 Chinese players advanced.
The European Masters qualifiers have played 60 matches since last month, and four qualifying matches, including the defending champion and the top three players in the world, were played during the main event.
A total of 12 of the 24 Chinese teams advanced to the main competition (the first Chinese billiards brother Ding Junhui did not sign up for the competition).
However, due to visa reasons, Li Xing, Chang Bingyu and Lei Peifan withdrew from the main competition, and their opponents Zhao Xintong, Scott Donaldson and Fu Jiajun will directly advance.
In last season's European Masters, 21-year-old Fan Zhengyi became the biggest dark horse. He made it all the way to the final and won 10-9 in the duel with "Rocket" O'Sullivan, winning the first time of his career. ranking championship.
But in the just-concluded British Open qualifying match, Fan Zhengyi was swept by Welsh player Jamie Clark 0:4, making fans concerned about him have to worry about his prospects in this event.
At the beginning of the game, Fan Zhengyi's performance proved that the fans' worries were not superfluous.
In the contest with veteran Michael Judge, he lost 5 games in a row after winning the first game and was eliminated with a big score of 1:5.
The defending champion missed the main game, which was a big upset in this game.
There are 5 matches in the first period of the first day of the European Masters. In addition to the delayed qualifying match for the defending champion, there are also 4 first-round matches of the main event, all of which are played by Chinese players.
Among them, 18-year-old Chinese star Wu Yize also broke out in a big upset. He eliminated Belgian star Brecher 5:1, and the latter won the honor of "the strongest post-95" with 3 ranking championships.
In the other 3 matches, Zhou Yuelong pulled three games in a row to defeat the 2006 World Championship champion Dortmund 5:4, Si Jiahui eliminated Scotland's Anthony McGill 5:2, and Xiao Guodong was defeated by his opponent's withdrawal from the match. win.
In addition to Zhao Xintong and Fu Jiajun, who were also automatically promoted due to their opponent's withdrawal from the competition, there are currently 6 members of the Chinese Army who have advanced to the top 32.
The European Masters is snooker's second ranking match of the 2022-2023 season.
In the first ranking match of the season (Champions League), the Chinese players played well, with 5 players entering the top 8. Among them, Lu Ning advanced to the final. Its strong overall strength and future development potential are still impressive.
This time, although Fan Zhengyi, the defending champion, has missed the main race, there are still many people in the Chinese legion participating in the battle, and he is still expected to achieve another good result.
In the early morning of the 17th Beijing time, "post-00" Yuan Sijun will face world champion Selby in the delayed qualifying match.
In the Champions League that ended not long ago, Yuan Sijun swept 7-time world champion O'Sullivan 3-0. It is worth looking forward to whether the Chinese teenager will be able to "follow the top" again this time.
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