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Snooker

Spent a while wondering what kind of person would put money on Tony Drago @1.06, a very special type of bravery would be needed. What a legend of a player, the only snooker player with Usain Bolt levels of fast twitch muscles, this guy is patient zero for ADHD, what is he in his sixties and looks like a toddler overdosed on E numbers. A joy to watch. The young lady referee was in turmoil chasing him around trying to get in position and re-spotting the balls, would have took her a while to come down after that.
 
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Two more Chinese players join the ranks of which Xinbo as mentioned in a previous post is the most likely to reach Wu Yize standards. Oddly also Zhao Xintong has been named as Player Of The Season, yes had a great time but mostly won the restricted events whereas Wu has won 2 proper events. Probably as he didn't get it last year when winning the World Championship, a pointless award anyway!

Wang Xinbo and Luo Zetao have both been awarded a two-year card for the World Snooker Tour as the top two players in the China Billiard Sports Association national rankings.

The duo will both join the pro circuit for the first time, with cards for the 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons.

Wang (pictured), age 18, was runner-up in both the WSF Championship and WSF Junior Championship earlier this year. He played as an invitation in several pro events last season, notably knocking Mitchell Mann and Iulian Boiko out of the Halo World Championship qualifiers before losing to Stuart Bingham.

Luo, age 25, reached the final round of Asia and Oceania Q School last year before narrowly losing 4-3 to Liu Wenwei.
 
Delboy99 said:
..... I see Ronnie kicked off with a 4-1 win against Ken Doherty. So no problem there. ;)
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Yes Delboy99 Delboy99 no problems for him. Fun has been the tables yesterday. One they stopped at 1-1, Stevens v Dale due to an uneven surface. THe gap between 2 slates wasn't level. Stevens played as hot and the 2 balls jumped nearly a foot off the table. Alfie Burden lost to Figueiredo 4-0 on the practise table and Stevens and Dale finished later on the other table.

Today Bingham clearly hadn't played much since his World Championship exit and struggled to work out the table speed so perhaps still not correct though that was the good table.

These the quarter finals tonight over 7 frames still.

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Carter crashes out and struggling with table it seemed. Peter Lines excellent but Ronnie won the last 3 in top form in a match in a hurry. Semis tomorrow over 13 frames. Hard to beat Ronnie now.

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Finals day over 19 frames today as the 2 favourites scrambled through by 7-5 avoiding those black ball shoot outs. Only saw the night match with Steadman 3-0 up on Perry and Perry all at sea but the game reversed after that as Steadman struggled with the table and his belief. He is back on tour next season so some consolation for him.

A little one sided on paper but Perry improved as game went on last night.

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So the big shock is Bai Yulu lost 4-3 to Panchaya Channoi, a young improving Thai player who was 6th on my list before that game. An excellent win for her. The other big names all won and tomorrow is semi finals day over 9 frames. Better times for UK at 5 and 10 in the morning! On youtube with the all Thai match first.

So of the big 4 Reanne and On Yee are already on the main tour with a place for the World Champion and the top player on ratings at the end of the season. It seems Bai Yulu will qualify on the ratings and if one of the Thai's win the final they get the other place or Nutcharut would get it on rankings.

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In Thailand the Qualifying School reaches the final of the first event tomorrow.

The 2 winners of best of 7 join the main tour for next year. 3 former pros and the first match between 2 previously suspended. Bai first chance to return and Thanawat just missed out last season. Sarkosh fell off tour last season but not too bad on the Tour. Deng hoping to make debut.

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The Hare said:
So the big shock is Bai Yulu lost 4-3 to Panchaya Channoi, a young improving Thai player who was 6th on my list before that game. An excellent win for her. The other big names all won and tomorrow is semi finals day over 9 frames. Better times for UK at 5 and 10 in the morning! On youtube with the all Thai match first.

So of the big 4 Reanne and On Yee are already on the main tour with a place for the World Champion and the top player on ratings at the end of the season. It seems Bai Yulu will qualify on the ratings and if one of the Thai's win the final they get the other place or Nutcharut would get it on rankings.

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Watching a bit of Reanne Evans match, referee is appalling, conceded a frame without Reanne permission , must be half a dozen times shouting at crowd when players addressing the shot, looking at the crowd instead of the shot, looks like amateur hour. Other stuff going on but don’t understand because in Chinese, it looked like OnYee didn’t have something in her corner like a drink or a towel or something and had to go and ask Reanne.
Referee is putting them off more than the crowd, no bitching or moaning from players, just putting up with it.
 
Outlander said:
Watching a bit of Reanne Evans match, referee is appalling, conceded a frame without Reanne permission , must be half a dozen times shouting at crowd when players addressing the shot, looking at the crowd instead of the shot, looks like amateur hour. Other stuff going on but don’t understand because in Chinese, it looked like OnYee didn’t have something in her corner like a drink or a towel or something and had to go and ask Reanne.
Referee is putting them off more than the crowd, no bitching or moaning from players, just putting up with it.
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You have done well to watch O Outlander! I saw the end of the final frame in the other semi final and that was it. Watching te 2nd Q School Final now. Sounds a fun game!

So the first qualifying school final was won by Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon. I was surprised he hadn't been on tour since 2016, he is only 32 and had 4 years previously when he had started to improve towards the top 64. Then disappeared and qualified through the Asia Q School maybe 3 years ago but was instantly suspended and banned for actions when he was on tour. Obviously a young lad and we saw what happened to the young Chinese players of which his vanquished, Bai, was one.

As for the women another excellent display from 18 year old Panchaya who beat her compatriot Nutcharut by 5 frames to 3 and now has the chance of joining the tour if she can defeat Reanne tomorrow over 11 frames. If she loses then Nutcharut will probably get the place through rankings so would be the same 4 women as last year.

Oddly as women's snooker goes, Panchaya is playing in the World Under 21 Championship the last 2 days, and has today played 3 games in that event to win it. Plus her semi final earlier. She has had a rough preparation for the biggest game of her life tomorrow.

6th v 2nd on my ratings.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan calls for Snooker 900 tour after Global Championship win​

Ronnie O’Sullivan fancies playing plenty more Snooker 900 after beating Luca Brecel in the final of the Global Championship on Sunday night.

The Rocket downed the Belgian Bullet 10-5 in the fast-paced format, played over 15-minute frames with a 20-second shot clock.

The seven-time world champion only narrowly beat amateur player Billy Joe Castle 5-4 in his opener, before downing Kyren Wilson 6-4 in the semi-finals.

The 50-year-old made five centuries in the final on his way to the £25,000 top prize, with Brecel settling for £10,000 as runner-up, having beaten Joe Perry and Florian Nuessle earlier in the event.

Snooker 900 is put on by Jason Francis, away from the professional World Snooker Tour events, but O’Sullivan hopes more tournaments can be put on.

The Rocket sensationally claimed that 70 per cent of professionals would rather play 900 than traditional snooker, although he may have to produce some evidence if that claim is to be believed.
 
Panchaya Channoi joins the Open Tour after an amazing week in China for her. She has stepped up a few gears this week at just 18 years old, beating Bai Yulu, Nutcharut Wongharuthai and Reanne Evans 6-2 in the Final. Can't complain about that, 3 of the top 4 players in Women's snooker.

Panchaya made 2 centuries in the Final which seem to be the only centuries in the event. Be interesting to see how she gets on against the professionals.
 
After the excitement of the Women's World Championships things have got going again with the 2nd Asian Qualifying School and the much bigger first one for the Europeans.

Panchaya was her first win on the Woman's Tour, quite an amazing improvement, I mean she was ok before but still stepped up some gears here. Only 18 and certainly a right future. Maybe she has had more time to practise or the main players were tired after their long season with the main tour. But the little I saw her control of the cue ball was much better than her opponents.

So over the weekend another 2 Asian qualifier son their school and today the start of the last 128 round in Europe which will take a little longer. Two sets of qualifiers in Europe to supply another 8 players for next season.

Performance of yesterday in the last 256 was a win for Dan Reynolds at 63 proving age is no barrier as he tries to regain his tour place for first time since 2001. Wikipedia tells me he had a stroke in 2009 and relearnt his technique. Good luck to him in the rest of the event.

Other old favourite Tony Knowles is again trying to regain his card as well. Last on in the lower reaches in 2004 and now 70 years old.

Today tour leavers Farakh Ajaib and Haris Tahir have been knocked out so far.
 

Who will be the next first-time ranking event winner in snooker?​

The 2025/26 snooker season was a record-breaking one in that there were 15 different champions across the 18 ranking events that were staged.





Only Zhao Xintong and Wu Yize managed to get their hands on ranking silverware more than once, with the former picking up three titles to the latter’s two.
Such a vast span of champions has rarely if ever been seen before in the sport, with the first 13 ranking tournaments of the calendar won by different contenders.


It will be interesting to see if this trend continues into the upcoming 2026/27 campaign – the provisional schedule for which was confirmed by WST earlier this week.
Thoughts, then, may turn to who among the supporting cast of stars on the main tour might next be able to fulfill their ambitions of becoming a champion at ranking level.


There were three players last season who experienced that winning sensation for the first time in their careers.


Before taking the Crucible by storm to claim a maiden world title, Wu’s initial breakthrough materialised at the International Championship where he defeated John Higgins in the final.


A week before that in late October, it was finally the turn of Jack Lisowski who put years of misery and heartache at the last hurdle of competitions behind him by edging Judd Trump 9-8 to claim the Northern Ireland Open crown.


Then in December, Alfie Burden defied amateur status to emerge triumphantly at the Snooker Shoot Out – an amazing 31 years after he first joined the World Snooker Tour as a pro in 1994.


In no particular order, let’s take a rundown of five likely candidates to join the exclusive group of ranking event winners next season.


Chang Bingyu​


Still only 23 years of age, Chang Bingyu enjoyed an excellent first season back on the World Snooker Tour after regaining his professional status in 2025.
The Chinese cueist, who was among the players caught up in the betting scandal that rocked the sport in 2022 and 2023, wasted little time in reminding everyone of his ability.


Chang notably reached the final of the Scottish Open, and he has already climbed to number 48 in the world rankings.


That rapid upward trajectory is likely to continue with no points to defend next season, and it would be no surprise to see him quickly emerge as a genuine title contender on a more regular basis.


Zhou Yuelong​


Despite still being only 28, Zhou Yuelong is already one of the more experienced competitors on the professional circuit having first turned pro more than a decade ago.


The Chinese player has long been touted as a future ranking event winner, but several painful near misses have continued to stand in his way.


Zhou suffered a fourth defeat in a ranking final at last season’s English Open where he lost out to Mark Allen.


With so many of his Chinese compatriots now becoming champions, there will surely be a growing determination within Zhou to finally fulfill the potential many have seen in him for years.


Si Jiahui​


Si Jiahui is the only current member of the world’s top 16 who has yet to capture ranking event silverware.


The 23 year-old has already contested two ranking finals and reached the semi-finals of the World Championship in 2023, but a trophy has proved elusive.
Si, however, endured a disappointing 2025/26 campaign, reaching only two quarter-finals across the entire season.


On his day, the Chinese star possesses the attacking firepower to trouble anybody, but finding greater consistency will be the key to turning promise into trophies.


With odds of 66/1, Si is currently rated as an outside bet for next season’s first Triple Crown event at the UK Championship, with Fortunica Casino UK and Sportsbook providing more betting odds for all the latest snooker and sporting events on the calendar.


Elliot Slessor​


Elliot Slessor may represent something of an outside pick, but the Englishman has quietly established himself as one of the tour’s most dependable performers.


The 31 year-old has steadily climbed the rankings over the last couple of seasons and ended the recent campaign with a career-high position of 19 in the world.


Slessor has also featured in five ranking event semi-finals – including an appearance at that stage of last season’s Saudi Arabia Masters – to underline his ability to challenge deep into tournaments.


If he can take the next step mentally in the latter stages of competitions, a maiden ranking crown may not be too far away.


Stan Moody​


At just 19 years of age, Stan Moody is already being viewed as one of the brightest young prospects in the game.


The confident English teenager showcased his enormous potential at the recent World Championship where he came through qualifying and threatened to produce a huge upset against Kyren Wilson in the opening round.
Although Moody ultimately let a strong position slip, the experience may prove invaluable for his long-term development.


Having also reached two ranking event quarter-finals last season, there is little doubt that the talented youngster is heading in the right direction.


Honourable Mentions​


Several other players could also stake a strong claim to becoming snooker’s next first-time ranking event winner.


Joe O’Connor has already lost in three ranking event finals, including in the title-deciding affair of Championship League Snooker almost a year ago.


Pang Junxu remains another highly regarded Chinese talent and was runner-up at the 2023 WST Classic.


Yuan Sijun has reached two ranking semi-finals during his career and still appears capable of a breakthrough at the top level.


Meanwhile, Jak Jones proved with his run to the 2024 World Snooker Championship final that he can thrive under the biggest pressure. ;)
 
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