The week ahead…

Back to defend his title – Luca Brecel

After a quiet couple of weeks on the snooker front, this coming week sees action on both the professional and amateur scenes as the Championship League comes to a conclusion and the European U-19 Championship gets underway in Malta…

Championship League – Group 7 and Winner’s Group

By the end of Thursday we will know who the winner of the third Championship League is and perhaps more importantly, that player will be confirmed as one of the seven players in next season’s Premier League tournament.

The fixtures for the week as posted on the Championship League website are as follows:

Group 7 – Mon & Tues 22/23 March
World rankings in brackets
Ding Junhui (13), Peter Ebdon (14), Mark Williams (15), Jamie cope (18), Joe Swail (22), Steve Davis (23) and Michael Holt (24).

FIXTURES BY TABLE
DAY ONE – MONDAY, MARCH 22
TABLE 1 (all times are approximate)
11am: Peter Ebdon v Joe Swail
12.15pm: Ding Junhui v Steve Davis
Not before 2pm: Joe Swail v Mark Williams
3.15pm: Steve Davis v Michael Holt
Not before 6pm: Joe Swail v Jamie Cope
7.15pm: Mark Williams v Michael Holt

TABLE 2 (all times are approximate)
11am: Mark Williams v Jamie Cope
12.15pm: Michael Holt v Peter Ebdon
Not before 2pm: Jamie Cope v Ding Junhui
3.15pm: Peter Ebdon v Mark Williams
Not before 6pm: Ding Junhui v Michael Holt
7.15pm: Steve Davis v Jamie Cope

DAY TWO – TUESDAY, MARCH 23
TABLE 1 (all times are approximate)
11am: Peter Ebdon v Steve Davis
12.15pm: Jamie Cope v Michael Holt
Not before 2pm: Joe Swail v Michael Holt
3.15pm: Mark Williams v Ding Junhui
Not before 6.30pm: Play-off first v fourth
7.45pm: Final

TABLE 2 (all times are approximate)
11am: Joe Swail v Ding Junhui
12.15pm: Mark Williams v Steve Davis
Not before 2pm: Peter Ebdon v Ding Junhui
3.15pm: Joe Swail v Steve Davis
4.30pm: Peter Ebdon v Jamie Cope
Not before 6.30pm: Play-off second v third

Winners Group – Weds/Thurs 24/25 March
World rankings in brackets
Stephen Maguire (2), John Higgins (3), Marco Fu (8), Neil Robertson (9), Mark Allen (11), Judd Trump (30) plus one player.

FIXTURES BY TABLE
DAY ONE – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24
TABLE 1 (all times are approximate)
11am: Stephen Maguire v John Higgins
12.15pm: Neil Robertson v Mark Allen
Not before 2pm: John Higgins v Judd Trump
3.15pm: Mark Allen v TBC
Not before 6pm: John Higgins v Marco Fu
7.15pm: Judd Trump v TBC

TABLE 2 (all times are approximate)
11am: Judd Trump v Marco Fu
12.15pm: TBC v Stephen Maguire
Not before 2pm: Marco Fu v Neil Robertson
3.15pm: Stephen Maguire v Judd Trump
Not before 6pm: Neil Robertson v TBC
7.15pm: Mark Allen v Marco Fu

DAY TWO – THURSDAY, MARCH 25
TABLE 1 (all times are approximate)
11am: Stephen Maguire v Mark Allen
12.15pm: Marco Fu v TBC
Not before 2pm: John Higgins v TBC
3.15pm: Judd Trump v Neil Robertson
Not before 6.30pm: Play-off first v fourth
7.45pm: Final

TABLE 2 (all times are approximate)
11am: John Higgins v Neil Robertson
12.15pm: Judd Trump v Mark Allen
Not before 2pm: Stephen Maguire v Neil Robertson
3.15pm: John Higgins v Mark Allen
4.30pm: Stephen Maguire v Marco Fu
Not before 6.30pm: Play-off second v third

2010 European Under 19 Championship

Meanwhile over in Malta this Friday, Belgian prodigy Luca Brecel will begin the defence of the European Under-19 Championship crown that he won 12 months ago in St Petersburg.

He will not have it easy however with talented players including Anthony McGill, Sam Craigie, Michael Leslie, Shachar Ruberg, Michael Zielinski, Mitchell Mann, Jak Jones and Jason Devaney also in the competition.

To view the draw in full over at Global Snooker, please click here.

In a related note, the European Team Championship also gets underway this week, click here for the draw.