Ng On Yee advanced from Stage One of Championship League Snooker on Friday by topping Group 32 in Leicester.
The popular Hong Kong potter is back on the main tour this season after a two-year absence through her high ranking on the women’s circuit.
Ng, a two-time winner on the World Women’s Snooker Tour last season, was undefeated in her three round-robin fixtures at the Mattioli Arena.
The 34 year-old raced into a 2-0 lead against Crucible qualifier Daniel Wells with breaks of 57 and 53 only to be pegged back with the pair sharing a point to start the day’s play.
Another 2-2 draw followed against He Guoqiang with Ng twice fighting back from a frame behind to add to her points tally.
By this point, China’s He had control of the group and required only a point from his last game to progress.
But a 3-1 defeat to Wells coupled with Ng’s 3-0 victory against Irish rookie Leone Crowley sent the three-time women’s world champion through instead courtesy of a superior frame difference.
It was a similarly tight affair in Group 2 where Zhang Anda just about managed to lived up to his billing as a seed to qualify for the competition’s last 32.
The former International Championship winner beat amateur top-up George Pragnell 3-1 in his opening bout.
Zhang then secured successive 2-2 draws with Chris Totten and Cheung Ka Wai to prevail with five points, one ahead of Pragnell.
Both Ng On Yee and Zhang Anda will rejoin the fray in the ranking event edition of Championship League Snooker in a couple of weeks.
Before that, there are still 22 groups from Stage One to contest with two more to be played out on Saturday in Leicester.
Stuart Bingham – a former winner of the invitational version of this tournament – heads Group 11 alongside Antoni Kowalski, Hatem Yassen, and Halim Hussain.
In Group 17, Elliot Slessor, Stan Moody, Oliver Brown, and Mark Lloyd will be vying for a spot in the second group phase.
Championship League Snooker represents the opening ranking event of the fledgling 2025/26 snooker season.
The overall winner on July 23rd will take home £33,000 worth of prize money and ranking points, plus a ticket to the lucrative Champion of Champions invitational later this year.
Live coverage is available for Ireland and UK viewers on the Matchroom Multi Sport and Matchroom Pool YouTube channels.
Friday’s Results
Group 2
Zhang Anda 3-1 George Pragnell
Cheung Ka Wai 2-2 Chris Totten
Cheung Ka Wai 2-2 George Pragnell
Zhang Anda 2-2 Chris Totten
George Pragnell 3-1 Chris Totten
Zhang Anda 2-2 Cheung Ka Wai
Table
1. Zhang Anda – 5 points
2. George Pragnell – 4 points
3. Cheung Ka Wai – 3 points
4. Chris Totten – 2 points
Group 32
Daniel Wells 2-2 Ng On Yee
He Guoqiang 3-0 Leone Crowley
He Guoqiang 2-2 Ng On Yee
Daniel Wells 2-2 Leone Crowley
Ng On Yee 3-0 Leone Crowley
Daniel Wells 3-1 He Guoqiang
Table
1. Ng On Yee – 5 points
2. Daniel Wells – 5 points
3. He Guoqiang – 4 points
4. Leone Crowley – 1 point
Featured photo credit: WWS / Andy Chubb Photography
What a start for women this season !
2 wins out of 2 for Evans, 1 for Bai and now Ng topping her group while the new campaign has barely started : this is uncharted territory.
I hope we will see many more victories until season end.
Personally it is an additional incentive to follow the Tour
Very good return to the tour for Ng On Yee! I feel that the four best women players are all on the main tour holding the four available womens cards for the first time this season. It’s been an unexpectedly strong start all round. The quality of beaten opponents hasn’t been particularly high but the momentum gained, and the confidence of wins on the board must be a huge improvement for the season for the first time.