The qualifying competition for the China Championship continues on Friday as another bunch of players will be looking for the win which will book them a return to the Asian nation for another huge tournament next month.
We have some leading names in action over the course of the three sessions of action on Friday, with the likes of Barry Hawkins and Stuart Bingham looking to punch their tickets on the plane to China.
Morning Session
Barry Hawkins is the big name on show in the morning session and his match will be on one of the streamed tables. He faces Barry Pinches who is back on the tour this season in a match the former world finalist will be expected to win. Xiao Guodong will be the other man on show on the streamed tables when he takes on his countryman Lei Peifan for a place in the event in their home country.
There are three other matches in the session all of which are on the outside tables. Scott Donaldson is probably the best known of the players involved and he faces Adam Stefanow while Lu Ning will look to qualify for a tournament where he is from when he meets Igor Figueiredo and Martin O’Donnell takes on Steve Mifsud.
Afternoon Session
Ali Carter is the big name looking to make it through the second session of the day. He has a relatively routine looking assignment against Alexander Ursenbacher, which will naturally be on one of the main tables while on the other one Lu Haotian goes up against Louis Heathcote in what looks a decent enough game.
Two Chinese players will look to qualify for their homeland as Zhao Xintong takes on David Grace away from the spotlight of the streamed tables while Liang Wenbo is also in action in this session when he faces the Englishman Mitchell Mann. The match of the afternoon though could be the one between Peter Ebdon and Sam Baird.
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Evening Session
Two huge names are on show in the final session of the day when John Higgins and Stuart Bingham take to the main tables to look to make it back to China. Higgins faces the veteran Andy Hicks while Bingham takes on a man who was playing at the World Cup earlier in the season in Jordan Brown. Both the star attractions will be expected to come through those tussles without too much fuss.
Three more matches take place in the extremities of the arena as Michael White faces Joe O’Connor in what could very easily be the match of the evening. Liam Highfield goes up against Si Jiahui while the other match in the session sees Andrew Higginson taking on John Astley in what is likely to be another highly competitive match to round off the day.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet over the course of the day on Friday and it comes in the afternoon session where I expect Liang Wenbo to power past Mitchell Mann. Wenbo shouldn’t lack for motivation in this match given that the final stages of the tournament are being played back home and in the last two meetings between these two gentlemen he has won 10 of the 11 frames they have played, with 6-1 and 4-0 wins.
Wenbo had a decent week in China in the International Championship last week, coming through a couple of tight matches, and he was unlucky not to see off Ding Junhui in the third round. He should have way too much for a so far winless this season Mann.
Tips
Back L.Wenbo (-2.5 frames) to beat M.Mann for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
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