While the World Championship may take priority during the next couple of weeks, a bit of news on the China Open for you as the names of six of the wildcard players have been revealed. Thanks to reader ddrIII for the heads up on this one…
According to the Chinese website My147.com the names of six wildcards are as follows:
Looking at the list there are few surprises there, Jin Long and Li Hang both former tour members and capable of causing an upset, while the others too are regulars at this wildcard stage. The least familiar name there is probably Rouzzi Maimaiti who was part of the Shanghai Masters tournament earlier this season and won a couple of frames against Andrew Higginson.
One obvious omission however is Tian Pengfei, the man who last season defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Davis on his way to the last 16 stage. This is reportedly due to the fact that Tian is not currently ranked as highly as those named above in the Chinese national rankings.
Hopefully more news will be made available as to any other wildcards and importantly, who they will each play, in due course….