World Snooker have today released the draw for the fourth event of the 2013/14 Asian Tour, the final event which will determine the final order of merit and with it, places in the Players Championship Grand Finals and main tour cards for next season…
- Click here to view the latest Asian Tour order of merit
The AT4 event is scheduled to take place prior to the Haikou World Open tournament in Dongguan City between 4-8 March 2014 and you can access the draw and format here at World Snooker.
Alternatively, you can also view the draw here at snookerorg, a format that regulars will know I find to be easier on the eye.
In terms of the entry list itself, this was always going to be an interesting tournament to see who entered, particularly of those players ranked outside of the top 64 on the money list, as well as having already finished too far down on the European Tour order of merit to retain their tour card via that route.
Among those hoping to save themselves with a run to the final, or at least earn additional money for the main two-year money list, are Zhang Anda, Paul Davison, Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon, Chen Zhe, Craig Steadman and Li Yan, Michael Leslie and Daniel Wells.
EDIT: One man in danger, perhaps surprisingly, is China’s Liu Chuang, who finds himself down in 76th place on the money list, despite being as high at 50 on the current points list. With 3,600 from the Asian Order of Merit so far, Liu is currently second of the four players currently poised to earn a tour card through the Asian list, but is not yet safe with this event still to come. Rather oddly, Liu has elected not to enter this event, a decision that could ultimately cost him his main tour place beyond the end of this season.
As well as tour places, there are also Players Championship Grand Finals up for grabs, eight of them to add to the field of 24 already known from the European list. As Mark Selby has already qualified for the Finals via the European list, whoever finishes in 9th place on the final Asian list will take the final spot in Preston as a result.