The new snooker season launches on Sunday with the qualifying fixtures in the 2025 Wuhan Open draw being held at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
It isn’t a particularly glamorous way to kick start a fresh campaign, but after almost seven weeks of no action it’ll be good to see the main tour players back on the baize.
The Wuhan Open has been a regular fixture on the calendar for the last couple of years, with its third edition scheduled for the end of August.
Judd Trump triumphed at the inaugural staging back in 2023 with a 10-7 victory over Ali Carter with Xiao Guodong landing a maiden ranking title at Si Jiahui’s expense a year ago.
Both Trump and Xiao are among a small group of contenders this year who have had their opening-round clashes held over to the venue stages.
Trump, the runaway world number one, will face Farakh Ajaib with Xiao beginning his defence against Mink Nutcharut.
Recent first-time world champion Zhao Xintong, Chinese number one Ding Junhui, and seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan are among the others who have had their round-of-128 matches deferred to Wuhan.
Several marquee names, however, are set to be back in the fray as the 2025/26 snooker season commences this weekend.
Kyren Wilson – four times a ranking event winner during a prolific last term – entertains Connor Benzey, one of 13 rookies on the circuit.
Two other first-timers in Thailand’s Chatchapong Nasa and Ireland’s Leone Crowley also face daunting opening tests against Mark Williams and Neil Robertson respectively.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing showdowns features Shaun Murphy, who was aged 15 when he first turned professional back in 1998.
Now 42, the reigning Masters champion encounters Polish hotshot Michal Szubarczyk, who at just 14 becomes the youngest ever snooker pro.
The likes of John Higgins, Barry Hawkins, Zhang Anda, and Wu Yize are also in the 2025 Wuhan Open qualifiers draw and will be hoping to get their seasons off to the best possible start in Leicester.
How to watch?
Live coverage of the Wuhan Open qualifiers will be available on various platforms depending on your location in the world.
As per the WST website, these are the available options:
UK and Europe
discovery+ in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Austria.
HBO Max in other European territories.
China
Huya.com
Migu
CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel
CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyi
All territories (including UK and Ireland)
WST Play
2025 Wuhan Open qualifiers draw
Round of 128 (bo9)
All times in UTC+1 (BST)
Xiao Guodong vs Mink Nutcharut (held over)
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Yao Pengcheng (June 22, 10am)
Elliot Slessor vs Oliver Lines (June 22, 2:30pm)
Ricky Walden vs David Grace (June 22, 2:30pm)
Chris Wakelin vs Marco Fu (June 24, 10am)
Anthony McGill vs Jimmy White (June 24, 2:30pm)
Wu Yize vs Louis Heathcote (June 22, 10am)
Matthew Selt vs Sunny Akani (June 22, 10am)
Xu Si vs Chris Totten (June 24, 10am)
Jak Jones vs Oliver Brown (June 24, 2:30pm)
Jamie Jones vs Liu Wenwei (June 22, 10am)
Barry Hawkins vs Julien Leclercq (June 24, 2:30pm)
Noppon Saengkham vs Robbie McGuigan (June 22, 10am)
Zhou Yuelong vs Lan Yuhao (June 22, 10am)
Stan Moody vs Antoni Kowalski (June 23, 7pm)
Ding Junhui vs TBC Wildcard (held over)
Mark Williams vs Chatchapong Nasa (June 22, 7pm)
Mark Davis vs Liam Davies (June 22, 7pm)
Joe O’Connor vs Jiang Jun (June 22, 10am)
Ben Woollaston vs Ken Doherty (June 24, 2:30pm)
Mark Selby vs Alexander Ursenbacher (June 23, 7pm)
Michael Holt vs Liam Graham (June 22, 7pm)
David Gilbert vs Cheung Ka Wai (June 24, 10am)
Luca Brecel vs Haris Tahir (June 22, 2:30pm)
Daniel Wells vs Chang Bingyu (June 23, 10am)
Stuart Bingham vs Liam Highfield (June 24, 2:30pm)
Sanderson Lam vs Zhao Hanyang (June 22, 7pm)
Zhang Anda vs Steven Hallworth (June 23, 10am)
Jimmy Robertson vs Liam Pullen (June 24, 2:30pm)
Lei Peifan vs Ng On Yee (June 24, 10am)
Aaron Hill vs Sam Craigie (June 23, 2:30pm)
Kyren Wilson vs Connor Benzey (June 24, 2:30pm)
Judd Trump vs Farakh Ajaib (held over)
Liu Hongyu vs Ian Burns (June 23, 10am)
Jack Lisowski vs Amir Sarkhosh (June 23, 7pm)
Ryan Day vs Jonas Luz (June 24, 10am)
Shaun Murphy vs Michal Szubarczyk (June 23, 10:30pm)
Jordan Brown vs Duane Jones (June 22, 7pm)
Gary Wilson vs Gao Yang (June 23, 10am)
Lyu Haotian vs Bai Yulu (June 23, 10am)
Martin O’Donnell vs Haydon Pinhey (June 22, 7pm)
Tom Ford vs Mateusz Baranowski (June 23, 7pm)
David Lilley vs Reanne Evans (June 22, 7pm)
Neil Robertson vs Leone Crowley (June 23, 2:30pm)
He Guoqiang vs Artemijs Zizins (June 23, 10am)
Yuan Sijun vs Xu Yichen (June 23, 10am)
Long Zehuang vs Dylan Emery (June 22, 2:30pm)
John Higgins vs Huang Jiahao (June 22, 2:30pm)
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Allan Taylor (held over)
Scott Donaldson vs Mitchell Mann (June 23, 7pm)
Pang Junxu vs Hatem Yassen (June 23, 2:30pm)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Fergal Quinn (June 23, 2:30pm)
Mark Allen vs TBC Wildcard (held over)
Zak Surety vs Gong Chenzhi (June 23, 2:30pm)
Hossein Vafaei vs TBC Wildcard (held over)
Fan Zhengyi vs Ben Mertens (June 22, 2:30pm)
Jackson Page vs Ross Muir (June 24, 10am)
Ali Carter vs Florian Nuessle (June 23, 7pm)
Robert Milkins vs Wang Yuchen (June 24, 10am)
Si Jiahui vs Bulcsu Revesz (June 22, 2:30pm)
Robbie Williams vs TBC Wildcard (held over)
Stephen Maguire vs Kreishh Gurbaxani (June 23, 2:30pm)
Matthew Stevens vs Sahil Nayyar (June 23, 7pm)
Zhao Xintong vs Iulian Boiko (held over)
Featured photo credit: WST
I’m glad to see the return of competitive action: will the story of the season be a continuation of the rise of Chinese players as has been the case for the last couple of seasons? Will Ronnie O’Sullivan flounder or flourish? Will Trump and Wilson continue to dominate the winners enclosure? How will the class of ’92 fair as a whole? How will the new starters get on, and a couple of the more well known strugglers? How will the wildcard entrants fair: whirlwind Jimmy and crafty Ken etc? And obviously, who will get to the Wuhan open main event?
I expect further Chinese players to continue populating the business end of a number of tournaments. Too many now in the top 32 for this not to happen. A number below more than capable of elevating their standing.
O’Sullivan tends to bounce back after fallow periods but if he doesn’t get settled with his equipment or work enough with Steve Peters then I’ve got my reservations he will return to winning ways this season.
Any new starter can be happy if they build a platform for them to build on so they can maintain their tour card beyond the allocated two years.
The easiest one to answer is Ken and Jimmy will pick up the odd win and their fans will yearn for just a glimpse of their prime.
Luca Brecel won’t as he’s not shown up!
Lei Peifan was last season’s big shock winner. One player who could be this season’s maiden winner from the lower reaches is Ishpreet Singh Chadha. A number of times, including today, his scoring has impressed me. Has now begun to pick up a bit of experience on TV.
We are in New Zealand how do we watch the,qualifying rounds and the final games