The biggest Chinese event of the snooker season so far takes place this week when those who have qualified head to the Asian country for the International Championship, with the tournament getting up and running on Sunday.
Ding Junhui thrilled the home crowds a year ago and he will be in the field looking to keep hold of the title he won in front of them but we’ve seen so many players look in decent form that there is a wide open feel about the competition.
Recent Winners
2024 – Ding Junhui
2023 – Zhang Anda
2019 – Judd Trump
2018 – Mark Allen
2017 – Mark Selby
2016 – Mark Selby
2015 – John Higgins
2014 – Ricky Walden
2013 – Ding Junhui
2012 – Judd Trump
The Format
One of the reasons why this is a highlight of the early part of the season is because it is a longer format than most events these days. The first round, including the heldover matckes, through to the quarter finals are the best-of-11 frames and then the semi-finals take place over two sessions and the best-of-17 frames on Friday and Saturday before the tournament concludes on the second Sunday of the competition when the finalists battle it out over the course of 19 frames for a first prize of £175,000 and ranking points.
Top Quarter
The defending champion this week is Ding Junhui which means that he is on top of the draw bracket as ever and he will be looking to take advantage of that in the top quarter. If everything goes with the seeding then the home superstar will face off against John Higgins in the quarter final. The likelihood of that happening took a boost in the qualifying competition when Mark Allen exited this section which leaves Shaun Murphy as the other top 16 player left in this quarter.
There are some useful players from outside the top 16 in this quarter of the draw. They are headed up by Elliot Slessor and Hossein Vafaei, who are capable of challenging in any tournament that they enter. Ryan Day is beginning to find some form while Pang Junxu will look to use home advantage to his benefit. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Scott Donaldson and Oliver Lines are some other players who are good enough to do some damage.
Second Quarter
The Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson is the headline act in the second quarter of the draw and his path to a first International Championship title has been made easier when his potential quarter final opponent Neil Robertson has withdrawn from the event because of illness. That leaves the Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong and the finalist from this tournament a year ago in Chris Wakelin as the other two top 16 players in the section.
The quarter has lost one of the dangers from outside of the top 16 with the withdrawal of Ali Carter due to personal reasons but there are still some dangers in it. Stuart Bingham knows this could be a huge week if he can go deep in the tournament while the likes of Aaron Hill and Stephen Maguire are having good seasons, the latter having already won an event when he took down the Championship League. Yuan Sijun, Xu Si, He Guoqiang and Jiang Jun will all be looking to make the most of home advantage.
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Third Quarter
We have a potentially tasty third quarter in the offing if the two main protagonists in it can come through their held over qualifying match. The world number one and recent Northern Ireland Open finalist Judd Trump is the top seed in the quarter and he will be hoping to progress to at least the quarter final where the Saudi Masters runner up Ronnie O’Sullivan could be the man waiting for him. Barry Hawkins and Zhang Anda are the other top 16 players on show with this a huge week for the latter who is defending the first place cheque from wining this tournament two years ago.
There are no shortage of players who can be dangerous outside the top 16 this week and if Wu Yize can make the most of home advantage then he could easily end the week in the elite with the cut off for the UK Championship closing in. Zhou Yuelong and Lyu Haotian will also be looking to make the most of home conditions while Jak Jones is another who could finish the week in and around the top 16 with a big week. The Northern Ireland Open winner Jack Lisowski goes in search of back-to-back tournament wins here.
Bottom Quarter
The home eyes might well be on the bottom quarter this week where the world champion Zhao Xintong will be looking to go deep on familiar territory. His quest for a deep run has been helped by Mark Williams withdrawing from the event before the off because of an illness but there is still Mark Selby and the other home player Si Jiahui in this quarter from the top 16. Selby would now be the quarter final opponent for Xintong should both get that far.
Wuhan Open finalist Gary Wilson is a live danger to those inside the top 16 in the bottom quarter this week while Lei Peifan is closing in on the defence of his Scottish Open title. Tom Ford is in this section as well and he can certainly do some damage while Anthony McGill has competed in the British Open final already this season. The likes of Daniel Wells, Martin O’Donnell and Fan Zhengyi are all competent players too.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that I like in this draw this week really. The high profile withdrawals have squashed the market so I’m not sure that there is much in the way of value in truth so I am just going to back someone who I think now has the better of the draw. That player is Xiao Guodong, a man who is no stranger to winning on home soil having won the Wuhan Open for each of the last two times that tournament has been staged.
He is in the section that Neil Robertson has vacated so the route to the quarter final reads Mahmoud El Hareedy which should be a mismatch, Zak Surety who has seen his form drop off, Aaron Hill and then one of Ken Doherty, Yuan Sijun or Ricky Walden. I think we have to put Guodong down as the favourite to reach the quarter final and while Kyren Wilson could be waiting there, Wilson doesn’t have a guaranteed route to the last eight. With Mark Allen eliminated in the top quarter too this draw has opened up a lot and so Xiao Guodong feels like he is the best drawn player here and I’ll take him even at 14/1.
Tips
Back X.Guodong to win International Championship (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 15.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
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