Ma Hailong
Amateur Snooker, Snooker Headlines

Ma Hailong earns professional main tour card

Ma Hailong has guaranteed his professional main tour card for the next two seasons.

The Chinese teenager reached the final of the World Snooker Federation Championship on Friday with a 4-2 victory over countryman Gao Yang.

Normally, the winner of the WSF Championship would be awarded the two-year card onto the professional circuit, and that might still turn out to be the case with Ma.

But as other finalist Stan Moody has already secured his spot on the main tour for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns, Ma will graduate regardless of the outcome of the title decider.

Last week, 16 year-old Moody triumphed in the WSF Junior Championship with a 5-1 defeat of fellow Englishman Liam Pullen.

In the quarter-finals of the flagship senior competition on Friday, Moody recovered from a snookers required stage to deny Fergal Quinn in a nervy decider.

The youngster subsequently held off Wales’ Liam Davies with a 4-2 scoreline in the semi-final, moving to within one victory of the impressive WSF double.

Ma, meanwhile, upset the tournament frontrunner Liu Hongyu in the last eight before seeing off former professional Gao.

The WSF Championship final between Ma Hailong and Stan Moody takes place on Saturday at the Mounties Club in Sydney.

Live coverage will be provided on the WPBSA YouTube channel, with the match commencing at 3am GMT.

Featured photo credit: World Snooker Federation

One Comment

  1. OscarTheFish(p@k)

    Ma Hei Long had successfully completed this tournament (WSF Championship 2023) and won the title. He got off to a good start in the first tournament of the season 2023/24, drawing three times. These are the first world ranking points. He is undefeated so far this main tour season.

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