Snooker Wuhan Open Qualifying Tournament: Fu Jiajun Advances to Main Match, Making it 10 Chinese Players in Total
China News Agency, Beijing, September 6th – Fu Jiajun, a renowned player from Hong Kong, China, has successfully advanced to the main match of the 2023 Snooker Wuhan Open. This marks a total of 10 Chinese players who have secured their place in the main competition. The qualifying tournament concluded on the last day of the contest in the UK.
Prior to Fu Jiajun’s victory, nine Chinese players had already secured their positions in the main match. Fu Jiajun faced off against Iran’s “first brother” Hussein Vafi, who is ranked 17th in the world. In an intense game, the scores fluctuated evenly until the crucial decisive game, where Fu Jiajun scored an impressive 86 points with a single shot to defeat his opponent and secure his promotion with a 5:4 victory.
Fu Jiajun, a triple champion of ranking competitions, has recently been hampered by injuries, resulting in a lackluster performance in recent seasons. He was on the brink of relegation last season. However, with the two-year professional wild card issued by the World Snooker Tournament, Fu Jiajun can continue to compete in professional games this season.
Unfortunately, Peng Yisong, a “post-00” Chinese teenager, failed to secure a victory in his match against England player Sam Craigie. The teenager lost with a score of 1:5, missing the opportunity to play in Wuhan, China, a month later.
The 2023 Snooker Wuhan Open is set to begin on October 9th. This will be the first snooker ranking tournament held in China since November 2019. The qualifying round featured a total of 128 players, with 64 advancing to the main race.
As the host country, China witnessed the largest participation scale this season. In addition to the 22 professional players who all participated, there were also four wild card players joining the competition. Out of the 18 players who competed in this qualifying competition, 10 successfully advanced while eight were eliminated. Four professional players, including Chinese billiards player “first brother” Ding Junhui, as well as four wild card players, will participate in the postponed qualifying match during the main event.
The conclusion of the 2023 Wuhan Open qualifying round also marks the beginning of another ranking match – the 2023 England Open qualifying round. This event will take place at the same venue in Leicester, England, from the 6th to the 8th of September. All 22 Chinese players with professional status have signed up for the competition, with 17 of them participating in this qualifying round. Chinese billiard player Ding Junhui, who ranks in the top 16 globally, along with four other Chinese players who will face off against top 16 players, will participate in the postponed qualifying match during the main event.