The 2024 UK Championship qualifiers commenced on Saturday with former champion Zhao Xintong among the many early winners in Leicester.
The highest 16 gamers from the official world rankings have already safeguarded their spots in the primary draw, however an extra 16 locations are up for grabs.
Zhao, who memorably received the 2021 UK Championship, took his preliminary steps to returning to the Barbican Centre in York by beating Sunny Akani 6-3 within the opening spherical.
The 27 year-old misplaced his major tour place final yr after being banned for his function within the match-fixing scandal involving ten Chinese language gamers that rocked the game.
Zhao wasn’t discovered responsible of fixing matches however was judged to pay attention to others doing so and was duly suspended for 20 months.
He returned to aggressive motion in September and has subsequently been lighting up the novice Q Tour, capturing a brace of titles and firing in two most breaks within the course of.
That Q Tour success gifted him one of many WPBSA invites to compete on this yr’s UK Championship qualifiers on the Mattioli Area.
An edgy begin to his battle with Akani noticed him path 2-0 early on, however he received six of the next seven frames with assistance from an amazing 146 complete clearance to finally prevail.
Zhao must win three extra rounds within the preliminary competitors if he’s to characteristic on the venue phases of this season’s first Triple Crown event.
Bai Yulu, in the meantime, additionally superior after preventing again from 3-1 behind to beat Farakh Ajaib with a 6-4 scoreline.
It represents Bai’s first victory on the World Snooker Tour since becoming a member of the circuit on the again of her success on the 2024 Ladies’s World Championship.
The 21 year-old, who participated within the Champion of Champions invitational final week, subsequent encounters Jamie Jones whereas Zhao will play fellow Chinese language cueist Jiang Jun.
Elsewhere, it was a busy first day on the 2024 UK Championship qualifiers with greater than 20 matches happening in Leicester.
Among the many different novice top-ups who emerged with victories was Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko, who ousted tour rookie Bulcsu Revesz with a excessive break of 134.
Florian Nüßle of Austria and Englishman Oliver Skyes additionally made it by means of after incomes respective victories over Jonas Luz and Ben Mertens.
Poland’s Antoni Kowalski edged world seniors champion Igor Figueiredo in a good conflict, whereas up-and-coming star Gong Chenzhi beat Daniel Womersley.
The remaining first-round ties within the qualifiers happen on Sunday with the likes of 1992 UK Championship winner Jimmy White coming into the fray.
There are 4 rounds in complete, with gamers coming into the draw at completely different phases relying on their seeding place.
The likes of Neil Robertson, Jak Jones, Barry Hawkins, and Jack Lisowski be a part of within the third spherical and would require two victories to achieve the final 32.
The way to watch the UK Championship qualifiers
November sixteenth and seventeenth: Watch stay on discovery+ all through Europe together with the UK and Eire
November 18th and nineteenth: Watch stay on discovery+ all through Europe together with the UK and Eire. Or watch on WST’s Fb or YouTube channels, worldwide (exterior China).
November twentieth and twenty first: Judgement Day. Watch on WST’s Fb or YouTube channels, worldwide (exterior China). Additionally watch stay on discovery+ all through Europe together with the UK and Eire.
2024 UK Championship qualifiers
Saturday, November sixteenth
Outcomes (Spherical 1)
Liam Graham 6-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Florian Nüßle 6-1 Jonas Luz
Artemijs Zizins 6-1 Mark Joyce
Gong Chenzhi 6-2 Daniel Womersley
Liam Pullen 6-3 Joshua Thomand
Haris Tahir 6-3 Craig Steadman
Haydon Pinhey w/o Reanne Evans
Mostafa Dorgham 6-4 Huang Jiahao
Alexander Ursenbacher 6-1 Joshua Cooper
Mohammed Shehab 6-4 Dean Younger
Liam Davies 6-3 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Zak Surety 6-4 Simon Blackwell
Wang Yuchen 6-2 Lewis Ullah
Iulian Boiko 6-3 Bulcsu Revesz
Bai Yulu 6-4 Farakh Ajaib
Julien Leclercq w/o Hamza Ilyas
Cheung Ka Wai 6-1 Harvey Chandler
Lei Peifan 6-0 Vladislav Gradinari
Hatem Yassen 6-0 Mink Nutcharut
Oliver Sykes 6-4 Ben Mertens
Amir Sarkhosh 6-1 Anton Kazakov
Zhao Xintong 6-3 Sunny Akani
Mitchell Mann 6-3 Andrew Pagett
Antoni Kowalski 6-4 Igor Figueiredo
Sunday, November seventeenth
Schedule (Spherical 1)
9:30am UTC
Jimmy White vs Paul Deaville
Chris Totten vs Ryan Davies
Duane Jones vs Ryan Thomerson
Robbie McGuigan vs Habib Subah Humood
Allan Taylor vs Kreishh Gurbaxani
Michael Holt vs Steven Hallworth
Manasawin Phetmalaikul vs Andres Petrov
Andrew Higginson vs Dylan Emery
Schedule (Spherical 2)
2:30pm UTC
Ian Burns vs Gong Chenzhi
Jordan Brown vs Florian Nüßle
Lengthy Zehuang vs Liam Graham
David Grace vs Artemijs Zizins
Daniel Wells vs Haris Tahir
Stuart Carrington vs Oliver Sykes
Jamie Clarke vs Mostafa Dorgham
Ma Hailong vs Liam Pullen
7:30pm UTC
Rory Thor vs Zak Surety
Jamie Jones vs Bai Yulu
Louis Heathcote vs Mohammed Shehab
Sanderson Lam vs Haydon Pinhey
David Lilley vs Liam Davies
Ashley Carty vs Iulian Boiki
Mark Davis vs Wang Yuchen
Alfie Burden vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Click on right here to view the complete draw
(snooker.org)
Featured photograph credit score: WST
