The snooker tour resumes tomorrow with the start of this year’s Haining Open, an event won last season by Stuart Bingham who now has an impressive four Asian Tour titles to his name.
Although Stuart will not be returning to defend his title in 2015, the tournament remains one that is deceptively important for many players, more so than ever in 2015 as eight Players Championship places and two main tour cards could effectively be up for grabs this week…
As the nights draw in and the clocks go back, it is also that time of the year when I take a close look at the battle for tour places from the start of the 2016/17 season. As regular readers will be well aware, to fully understand how each of the current tour players are currently placed, it is necessary to analyse a number of different ranking lists and orders of merit.
With two of the biggest money events to come in the International Championship and UK Championship tournaments, today I take my first player-by-player look at the current state of play and flag up some of the surprise names with work to do if they are to remain on tour for another season…
A little late, but congratulations to China’s Lu Ning, who last Friday defeated compatriot Zhou Yuelong 9-4 to win the 2013 IBSF World Under-21 Championship on home soil in China.
At 19-years-old, Lu was the elder of the duo by four years and perhaps his added experience proved decisive, though both players have of course appeared as wildcards at a number of professional tournaments already in their careers.
There can be little doubt that Lu was a deserved winner, having made a tournament high break of 135 on his way to victory in the tournament, as well as a further two century breaks.
The victory earns Lu a place on the main tour for the 2014/15 season, while a shout out is also due to British pair Oliver Lines and Jordan Winbourne, who met in the quarter-finals, before Oliver lost to Zhou in the last four.
Prior to the tournament it has been argued that the tournament would benefit from two last 32 matches being played on day one as well as the obligatory wildcard rounds and today showed exactly why as Neil Robertson and Stephen Hendry booked their places in the second round with deciding frame victories. Click below for a round-up of the day and a brief look ahead to Tuesday’s action…