Tuesday sees the start of the 2015 Champion of Champions event and following Mark Allen’s victory at the Bulgarian Open yesterday, we now know who the 16 players competing at the Ricoh Arena will be.
Click below for my look at the draw and thoughts on the tournament generally…
As well as being a remarkable achievement in its own right, Ali Carter’s victory at the recent Paul Hunter Classic, also secured him a place in the Champion of Champions event for the third successive year.
Click below for a look at who will be joining him with just five counting events still to be played…
UPDATE: An interesting snippet out today from last year’s winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has indicated on Twitter that he will not be taking up his place in this year’s tournament:
Heard a rumour going around that I'm playing The Champions Of champions. Not true
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) September 8, 2015
Original article follows…
An interesting line this afternoon from World Snooker, with the news that the tour card of Chinese youngster Yan Bingtao will now be deferred until the start of the 2016/17 season due to difficulties in obtaining a visa for him to travel to the UK.
With a tour place opened up, the decision has been taken to issue an ‘International Development Main Tour Card’ to Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo, who you may remember was relegated from the tour at the end of last season.
Congratulations to Chinese youngsters Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao, who have defeated the Scottish pairing of John Higgins and Stephen Maguire to win the 2015 World Cup in Wuxi, China.
Sunday marked the 20th birthday of Luca Brecel, who for at least as long as I have written this blog, has been regarded as snooker’s most promising teenage player.
Now that he is half way on to being eligible for the World Seniors Championship however, I posed the question on Twitter as to just who is snooker’s most promising teenager at this time, with several talented young players having either already made a mark on the professional scene, or certainly having done so at amateur level.
I wrote a similar piece back in 2009 and finding it interesting to look back at how those players have so far gone on to progress in their professional careers, click below for my look at some of the most promising teenagers in the game, together with the best of your tweets…
As the snooker circuit moves on to Blackpool this week for the World Seniors Championship and Shoot Out events, World Snooker have also published the draws and formats for the final stages of both the upcoming Indian Open and China Open tournaments.
Away from the UK Championship action in York this afternoon, 14-year-old Yan Bingtao has become the 2014 IBSF World Champion, with an 8-7 victory against Pakistan’s Muhammad Sajjad earlier today.
Already a familiar name on the main tour following victories against the likes of Stuart Bingham, Yu Delu, Barry Pinches and Liang Wenbo this season, he won the last two frames today, the decider with a break of 60 to succeed countryman Zhou Yuelong as world amateur champion.
Yan earns a two-year tour card from the 2015/16 season and will be the latest young Chinese talent looking to emulate the achievements of Ding Junhui on the professional circuit.
Although just 14 years old, by our calculations here in the York media room, he misses out on becoming the youngest ever winner of the event by around six weeks, Welshman Michael White edging him out following his 2006 victory.
Three days in to the Wuxi Classic and we are down to the last 16 stage, with world champion Mark Selby the most notable casualty so far, not withstanding Ding’s qualifying exit last month in Gloucester.
Click below for a round-up of the main stories so far, as well as a reminder of all of the useful links to follow…