The qualifiers have now been confirmed for the opening three events of the season after a week of snooker at the Preston Guildhall. Various players chose to pick and choose which events they would play in at the seasons very start here, with some of the world's top players choosing not to enter any of them.
However, it is also a very important week in setting the tone for the year for some of the lower ranked players who will be battling for survival and places in the top 64 at the seasons climax. Below I will be taking a look at some of the selected players and how they progressed or why we did not see them over the course of the last few weeks.
Qualified for all three events:
- Mark Williams
- Kyren Wilson
- Ryan Day
- Graeme Dott
- Luca Brecel
- Matthew Stevens
- Gary Wilson (Much needed ranking money already for Wilson who finished 75th on the one year money list for 2015/2016 season).
- Zhou Yuelong
- Xiao Guodong (A good start for Guodong who was 70th on the money list for 2015/2016)
- Stuart Carrington
- Allan Taylor (Money earned from these three matches nearly doubles Taylor's entire earnings last season of £3,500)
- Andrew Higginson
- Anthony McGill
- Mark King
- Mark Davis
- Stuart Bingham
- Zhang Yong (This has nearly match the money Zhang earned in the entire of last season)
Qualified for Two events:
World and Indian Opens:
- Alfie Burden
- Barry Hawkins (Did not enter the Riga Masters)
- Daniel Wells
- David Grace
- Duane Jones (For this Jones is already guaranteed £6,000 having earned only £775 from the 2015/2016 season)
- James Wattana
- Jamie Burnett
- Marco Fu (Match in the Riga Masters held over to the venue)
- Matt Selt (Was suspended for the Riga Masters)
- Mike Dunn
- Ricky Walden (Did not enter Riga)
- Robin Hull
- Stephen Maguire
- Oliver Lines
- Peter Ebdon
- Robbie Williams
World Open and Riga Masters:
- David Gilbert
- James Cahill
- John Higgins (Did not enter India)
- Neil Robertson (Did not enter India)
- Tom Ford
- Ali Carter
- Fergal O'Brien
- Ian Burns
- Joe Perry
- Jimmy Robertson (Match in the Indian Open against Aditya Mehta is held over to the venue)
- Lee Walker
- Michael Holt
- Zhang Anda
- Jamie Cope
- Judd Trump
- Sam Craigie (Pleasing stuff for one of my players to watch in the 2016/2017 season)
Indian Open and Riga Masters
- Jack Lisowski
- Jamie Jones
- Joe Swail
- Michael Georgiou (Match in the World Open against Ding Junhui is held over to the venue)
- Rory McLeod
- Sam Baird
- Zhao Xintong (Nice to see for Xintong who is one of my players to watch for this season)
- Fang Xiongman (Lost to Maguire in the World Open qualifiers before beating him in Riga Masters qualifying)
- Fraser Patrick
- Martin O'Donnell
- Martin Gould
- John Astley
- Dechawat Poomjaeng
Qualified for only one event:
World Open:
- Ben Woollaston
- Cao Yupeng
- Hammad Miah
- Kurt Maflin
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Thor Chuan Leong
- Michael White (Has had his match for the Indian Open held over as the defending champion)
- Rod Lawler
- Wang Yuchen
- Yu De Lu
- Alan McManus
Indian Open:
- Eden Sharav
- Elliot Slessor
- Hamza Akbar
- Jimmy White (Match in the World Open against Mark Selby is held over to the venue)
- Liam Highfield
- Mitchell Mann
- Robert Milkins
- Shaun Murphy (Did not enter the Riga Masters and has had his first round match of the World Open held over as the defending champion)
- Mark Joyce
- Akani Songsermsawad
- Dominic Dale
- Nigel Bond
Riga Masters:
- Chris Wakelin (Match in the World Open against Liang Wenbo is held over to the venue)
- Christopher Keogan
- Gareth Allen
- Hossein Vafei Ayouri
- Jak Jones
- Ken Doherty
- Noppon Saengkham
- Sean O'Sullivan
- Tian Pengfei
- Chen Zhe
- Yan Bingtao
- Mark Selby (Match held over in the World Open as World Champion and did not enter the Indian Open)
- Adam Duffy
- Li Hang
Failed to Qualify for any of the events:
- David John (Withdrew from the Riga Masters)
- Hatem Yassin
- Itaro Santos
- Paul Davison
- Alex Borg
- Boonyarit Kaettikun
- Ian Preece
- Jamie Barrett
- Josh Boileau
- Anthony Hamilton (Match in the Indian Open against Michael White is held over)
- Craig Steadman
- Darryl Hill
- Jason Weston
- Kurt Dunham
- Michael Wild
- Rhys Clark
- Sanderson Lam (Match in the World Open against Shaun Murphy is held over to the venue)
- Sydney Wilson
Special Notes:
- Ronnie O'Sullivan (Did not enter any of the events)
- Mark Allen (Did not enter the World or Indian Opens, but did originally enter the Riga Masters until withdrawing)
- Ding Junhui (Did not enter India or Riga but has entered the World Open and has had his match held over to the venue as one of the top two Chinese players)
- Liang Wenbo (Did not enter India or Riga but has entered the World Open and has had his match held over to the venue as one of the top two Chinese players)
- Aditya Mehta (Only entered the Indian Open and has had his first round match held over to the venue)
- Rouzi Maimaiti and Mei Xiwen (These two Chinese players were only given tour cards after the final qualifying draw for the three events had been fully finalised)
An interesting start to the season then for some and a poor one for others when exactly what they needed was a good one to boost their tour survival hopes early on.
Next up on the bill is the final stages of the Riga Masters from June 22nd - June 24th, followed by the Indian Open final stages from Tuesday July 5th - Saturday July 9th and then the World Open final stages from Monday July 25th - Sunday July 31st. Following that is roughly a months break in the calendar until the Paul Hunter Classic in August. I'm looking forward to covering all of that here and all the twists and turns of this new snooker season.
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