Following today’s revision to the seedings list, World Snooker have now published the draws for both the India Open and China Open tournaments, with the qualifiers set to be held between Thursday and Sunday this week at the Barnsley Metrodome.
You can view the links to the draws and formats here at World Snooker, or alternatively for both India and China at the ever-excellent snookerorg.
In terms of notable absentees, six of the world’s current top 10 have elected not to enter the Indian Open, with defending champion Ding Junhui, Barry Hawkins Judd Trump and Ricky Walden having gone against the grain and submitted their entries. Stephen Maguire, Xiao Guodong and Martin Gould the other absentees from the top 64.
For China meanwhile, only Gould of the top 64 has decided to miss out on the tournament, just as he said he would a year ago, unless he was close to gaining a place inside the top 16. I had wondered whether more players would take a similar approach, given the proximity of the venue stages in Beijing to the World Championship qualifiers in April and would not be surprised to see a few withdrawals closer to the time.