Kyren Wilson went unbeaten in his first outing as world champion but still failed to emerge from Group 1 of Championship League Snooker on Thursday.
The Englishman beat Jak Jones to claim a maiden world title last month at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
In his opening match of the new campaign, Wilson could only manage a 2-2 draw with amateur top-up Daniel Womersley.
Things looked more promising after he secured a 3-0 victory over Baipat Siripaporn, but he needed to beat Scott Donaldson in his remaining round-robin fixture to progress.
The latter had recorded back-to-back 3-0 triumphs against the same opponents and required only a draw from his third match.
When Wilson went in front with a break of 79, it looked like the turnaround could be on the cards.
But Donaldson subsequently made contributions of 88 and 101 to guarantee the point he needed to move into the last 32.
Wilson ended the day with a break of 111, but it was only good enough for second place in the group behind Donaldson, prematurely ending his Championship League Snooker run.
It was much more convincing in Group 14, where Hossein Vafaei dominated proceedings by winning all three of his encounters.
The Iranian surrendered just a single frame across the day as he outplayed Josh Mulholland, Manasawin Phetmalaikul, and Louis Heathcote.
Vafaei’s odds in the outright betting market for the Championship League Snooker winner have been slashed to about 14/1 with most online bookies.
There are many ways to bet on snooker and other sports, with several online bookmakers providing acca bonus offers or boosted odds options after signing up.
On Friday, meanwhile, the action at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester continues with two more groups from Stage One in what is the 2024/25 snooker season’s first ranking event.
China’s Si Jiahui is in Group 13 alongside Jimmy Robertson, Zak Surety, and Peter Lines.
In Group 18, former world champion Stuart Bingham faces Anthony Hamilton, Ahmed Aly Elsayed, and Hamim Hussain.
Thursday, June 20th – Results
Group 1
1. Kyren Wilson 2-2 Daniel Womersley
2. Scott Donaldson 3-0 Baipat Siripaporn
3. Scott Donaldson 3-1 Daniel Womersley
4. Kyren Wilson 3-0 Baipat Siripaporn
5. Daniel Womersley 3-0 Baipat Siripaporn
6. Kyren Wilson 2-2 Scott Donaldson
Group 14
1. Hossein Vafaei 3-0 Josh Mulholland
2. Louis Heathcote 2-2 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
3. Louis Heathcote 3-1 Josh Mulholland
4. Hossein Vafaei 3-1 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
5. Josh Mulholland 3-0 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
6. Hossein Vafaei 3-0 Louis Heathcote
Championship League Snooker
Stage One Draw
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
| Scott Donaldson | He Guoqiang | Shaun Murphy | Mark Williams |
| Group 5 | Group 6 | Group 7 | Group 8 |
| Ali Carter | Gary Wilson | Robbie McGuigan | Jak Jones |
| Group 9 | Group 10 | Group 11 | Group 12 |
| Ma Hailong | Jackson Page | Ryan Day | Jack Lisowski |
| Group 13 | Group 14 | Group 15 | Group 16 |
| Si Jiahui | Hossein Vafaei | David Gilbert | Fan Zhengyi |
| Group 17 | Group 18 | Group 19 | Group 20 |
| Chris Wakelin | Stuart Bingham | Long Zehuang | Stuart Carrington |
| Group 21 | Group 22 | Group 23 | Group 24 |
| Neil Robertson | Joe O’Connor | Michael White | Martin O’Donnell |
| Group 25 | Group 26 | Group 27 | Group 28 |
| Matthew Stevens | Alexander Ursenbacher | David Lilley | Wu Yize |
| Group 29 | Group 30 | Group 31 | Group 32 |
| Ben Woollaston | Jamie Jones | Ashley Carty | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
Stage Two
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Scott Donaldson | David Gilbert | Long Zehuang | Mark Williams |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
| Ali Carter | David Lilley | Jackson Page | Martin O’Donnell |
Stage Three
| Final Group 1 | Final Group 2 |
| Ali Carter | Jackson Page |
Final (bo5)
Ali Carter 3-1 Jackson Page
Featured photo credit: WST
Loved your article about Championship League Snooker, how does it work? Hiw many games have to be won?
Each group is played under the normal round-robin format. They play each other once and the top player advances to the next stage. The last two group winners play each other in a final to determine the tournament winner.