China News Service, Beijing, January 23rd. The 2024 Snooker World Grand Prix has just ended, and another ranking match has begun.
On the morning of the 23rd, Beijing time, the 2024 Snooker World Open concluded the first day of qualifying in the UK. Six Chinese players were the first to advance to the main draw.
The main draw of the 2024 Snooker World Open will be held in Yushan County, Jiangxi Province in March this year. The event will return to China after a lapse of five years.
All 22 Chinese players with professional qualifications participated, 20 of whom participated in this qualifying round. Two Chinese players who are among the top 16 in the world, Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda, as well as the previous champion Trump and last season’s World Championships Tournament champion Brecher and others will participate in the postponed qualifying tournament during the main tournament.
The qualifying tournament kicked off on the 22nd local time. 128 players competed for 64 seats in the main draw. The competition adopts a best-of-nine-game system.
On the first day of the competition, 11 Chinese players took the lead. Six players, Fan Zhengyi, Zhou Yuelong, Liu Hongyu, Tian Pengfei, Yuan Sijun, and Pang Junxu, advanced. Peng Yisong, Jiang Jun, Xing Zihao, and two Hong Kong veterans Fu Jiajun and Li Junwei were unfortunately eliminated.
Among them, Zhou Yuelong defeated professional newcomer Jiang Jun 5-1 and easily won the "China Derby"; Liu Hongyu, also a professional newcomer, eliminated Welsh player Jamie Clark 5-1, and his opponent had already exceeded the score in the 6th game. Under such circumstances, he played multiple snooker shots in a row, causing his opponent to take penalty points, and finally cleared the table to achieve a reversal of the game, which was quite a bit of a sophisticated style.
On the second day of the 2024 Snooker World Open Qualifying Tournament, four Chinese players will compete, but the one that attracted the most attention that day was O'Sullivan's reappearance.
The "big brother" of world snooker has just won the World Grand Prix championship, winning three consecutive championships in two months.
The Snooker World Open, which has a history of more than 40 years, came to China in 2012 and was held three times in Haikou City, Hainan Province from 2012 to 2014.
In 2016, the event was settled in Yushan County, Jiangxi Province, and has been held for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019.
Chinese billiards star Ding Junhui won the championship in 2017.
It is reported that the total prize money of the 2024 Snooker World Open will be increased to 815,000 pounds, and the championship prize will be increased to 170,000 pounds.
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