Snooker UK Championship Qualifying Round: The Chinese Legion had a great victory on the first day and all 6 players advanced to the second round – Sports – China Engineering Network

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Snooker UK Championship qualifying round: The Chinese Legion made a great victory on the first day and all 6 players advanced to the second round

China News Service, Beijing, November 19th. On the morning of the 19th, Beijing time, the 2023 British Snooker Championship concluded the first day of qualifying competition in Leicester, England. The six Chinese Legion players who played that day all won and advanced to the second round.

The British Snooker Championship, the World Championship and the Masters are also known as the three major snooker competitions. Currently, the British Championships and the World Championships adopt the same format, and the top 16 players in the world (TOP16) directly enter the top 32 of the main draw. The qualifying round lasts for 4 rounds, and 16 players are finally selected. During the main game, they will have direct conversations with the top 16 players.

A total of 144 players participated in the qualifying rounds of this British Championship, including 22 Chinese players led by Chinese billiards star Ding Junhui. In the first round (144 to 112) that started on the 18th local time, 6 members of the Chinese Legion played and all won and advanced.

This qualifying round adopts a best-of-11 game system. In the first session of the day, Chinese teenager Xing Zihao defeated the legendary British star Jimmy White, who is over 60 years old, 6-2, becoming the first Chinese player to advance to the second round of this qualifying tournament.

Subsequently, Peng Yisong, Ma Hailong, Jiang Jun, Long Zehuang, and Hong Kong star Marco Fu successively advanced to the second round. Among them, Peng Yisong and Jiang Jun both swept their opponents 6-0. The most intense competition between Marco Marco and the British star Michael Holt was that the two 45-year-olds played for 11 games, and the scores were tied many times. In the end, Marco Fu defeated his opponent 6-5.

It is worth mentioning that among the six Chinese players who appeared that day, Xing Zihao, Ma Hailong, Jiang Jun and Long Zehuang are all professional newcomers. This year, a group of Chinese “new faces” have begun competing in world snooker professional events and have achieved impressive results, showing the potential for the future development of Chinese snooker.

On the next match day, the British Championship qualifying matches will be a double match, with the final match of the first round and some competition for the second round (112 going into 80). 19-year-old Chinese teenager Gao Yang and Hong Kong player Li Junwei, who are participating as amateur players, will compete in the first round. The second round of competition will feature many Chinese players. Among them, He Guoqiang and Xu Si will make their debut in this event. Xu Si and Ma Hailong will also bring a “Chinese Derby”.

Chinese player Zhang Anda and England star Tom Ford, who reached the finals in the recently concluded Tianjin International Championship, came from behind and both ranked among the top 16, ousting Chinese snooker’s “big brother” Ding Junhui from the seed list. Currently, Ding Junhui, ranked 17th in the world, is the No. 1 seed in this qualifying tournament, but still needs to participate in two rounds of qualifying matches to compete for a seat in the main draw.

According to the schedule, Ding Junhui will make his debut in this tournament in the third round in the early morning of the 21st Beijing time.