The 2025 International Championship starts on Sunday with a stellar draw and huge prize money on offer in the snooker season’s fourth trip to China.
Following the campaign-opening Shanghai Masters invitational that was won by Kyren Wilson, this will be the third Chinese ranking event on the 2025/25 calendar.
Xiao Guodong successfully defended his Wuhan Open crown in August before Mark Williams subsequently triumphed at the Xi’an Grand Prix.
The upcoming week in Nanjing will be an important one, as the tournament represents the last before the cut-off point to seal automatic seeding in York for the UK Championship.
2025 International Championship prize money
Champion: £175,000
Runner-up: £75,000
Semi-final: £33,000
Quarter-final: £22,000
Last 16: £14,000
Last 32: £9,000
Last 64: £5,000
Highest Break: £5,000
Total: £825,000
Who are the former champions?
Ding Junhui is the reigning champion, the popular home hero claiming his first ranking title in almost five years with victory over Chris Wakelin in the 2024 final.
It was Ding’s second International Championship title having also been crowned way back in 2013, with the inaugural edition in 2012 being won by Judd Trump.
At that time, the tournament was been billed as a potential fourth major on the calendar, but that notion never really took off.
Ricky Walden and John Higgins emerged victoriously in 2014 and 2015 respectively with Mark Selby securing consecutive wins in the following two seasons.
Mark Allen triumphed in 2018 before Trump scored his second success in the competition a year later.
There were a few years when the tournament couldn’t take place because of the global pandemic, but upon its return in 2023 there was a surprise champion in Zhang Anda.
How does the 2025 International Championship draw work?
Much like the majority of other ranking events on the annual schedule, there was a batch of qualifiers first held in the UK.
A lot of players have already safely made it beyond the first round, including the likes of Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, John Higgins, Mark Selby and last week’s Northern Ireland Open winner Jack Lisowski.
Former champion Mark Allen and 2023 world champion Luca Brecel were a couple of high-profile names who were defeated in the preliminary phase.
Several round-of-128 matches involving the marquee names were held over to the main venue at the SNC National Fitness Center.
Reigning champion Ding and world number one Trump are among them, while Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong are other star attractions who had their games deferred.
The 2025 International Championship has already been hit by a number of withdrawals, however.
Mark Williams, Ali Carter, Ken Doherty, and Sam Craigie all qualified for the last 64 but have pulled out, offering byes into the last 32 for their respective opponents.
2025 International Championship Draw
Round of 128 (bo11)
Ding Junhui vs David Grace (held over)
Michael Holt 6-2 Reanne Evans
Pang Junxu 6-1 Ross Muir
Liam Highfield 6-5 Jackson Page
Shaun Murphy 6-1 Yao Pengcheng
Robbie Williams vs Bai Yulu/Wang Xinzhong (held over)
Elliot Slessor 6-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Ben Mertens 6-3 Matthew Selt
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Xu Jiarui (held over)
David Gilbert 6-5 Liam Davies
Scott Donaldson 6-0 Antoni Kowalsi
Mitchell Mann 6-4 Mark Allen
Ryan Day 6-3 Zhao Hanyang
Hossein Vafaei 6-1 Fergal Quinn
Oliver Lines 6-2 Jordan Brown
John Higgins 6-5 Liam Pullen
Neil Robertson 6-1 Umut Dikme
Ken Doherty 6-5 Stan Moody
Yuan Sijun 6-2 Julien Leclercq
Ricky Walden 6-1 Gao Yang
Xiao Guodong vs Mahmoud El Hareedy (held over)
Zak Surety 6-2 Farakh Ajaib
Ali Carter 6-0 Liam Graham
Aaron Hill 6-1 Leone Crowley
He Guoqiang 6-3 Duane Jones
Stuart Bingham 6-3 Ian Burns
Jiang Jun 6-4 Long Zehuang
Chris Wakelin 6-1 Florian Nuessle
Xu Si 6-3 Sahi Nayyar
Stephen Maguire 6-5 Kreishh Gurbaxani
David Lilley 6-3 Chatchapong Nasa
Kyren Wilson 6-2 Gong Chenzhi
Judd Trump vs Dylan Emery
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Connor Benzey
Zhou Yuelong vs Wang Xinbo (held over)
Noppon Saengkham 6-1 Jonas Luz
Zhang Anda 6-3 Chris Totten
Michal Szubarczyk 6-4 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Wu Yize 6-3 Lan Yuhao
Lyu Haotian 6-1 Ng On Yee
Ben Woollaston 6-3 Cheung Ka Wai
Jak Jones 6-1 Mateusz Baranowski
Huang Jiahao 6-5 Mark Davis
Barry Hawkins vs Zhou Jinhao (held over)
Louis Heathcote 6-2 Jamie Jones
Jack Lisowski 6-2 Bulcsu Revesz
Sanderson Lam 6-0 Amir Sarkhosh
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Allan Taylor (held over)
Mark Williams 6-2 Iulian Boiko
Anthony McGill 6-0 Mink Nutcharut
Sam Craigie 6-1 Joe O’Connor
Jimmy Robertson 6-3 Chang Bingyu
Mark Selby 6-0 Steven Hallworth
Liu Hongyu 6-1 Haydon Pinhey
Tom Ford 6-1 Robbie McGuigan
Daniel Wells 6-2 Jimmy White
Martin O’Donnell 6-5 Xu Yichen
Gary Wilson 6-3 Artemijs Zizins
Wang Yuchen 6-5 Robert Milkins
Si Jiahui 6-3 Sunny Akani
Liu Wenwei 6-5 Luca Brecel
Lei Peifan 6-3 Haris Tahir
Fan Zhengyi 6-1 Hatem Yassen
Zhao Xintong vs Oliver Brown (held over)
Round of 64 (bo11)
Ding/Grace vs Michael Holt
Pang Junxu vs Liam Highfield
Shaun Murphy vs R.Williams/Bai/Wang
Elliot Slessor vs Ben Mertens
Un-Nooh/Xu vs David Gilbert
Scott Donaldson vs Mitchell Mann
Ryan Day vs Hossein Vafaei
Oliver Lines vs John Higgins
Neil Robertson w/o Ken Doherty
Yuan Sijun vs Ricky Walden
Xiao/El Hareedy vs Zak Surety
Aaron Hill w/o Ali Carter
He Guoqiang vs Stuart Bingham
Jiang Jun vs Chris Wakelin
Xu Si vs Stephen Maguire
David Lilley vs Kyren Wilson
Trump/Emery vs Matthew Stevens
Zhou/Wang vs Noppon Saengkham
Zhang Anda vs Michal Szubarczyk
Wu Yize vs Lyu Haotian
Ben Woollaston vs Jak Jones
Huang Jiahao vs Hawkins/Zhou
Louis Heathcote vs Jack Lisowski
Sanderson Lam vs O’Sullivan/Taylor
Anthony McGill w/o Mark Williams
Jimmy Robertson w/o Sam Craigie
Mark Selby vs Liu Hongyu
Tom Ford vs Daniel Wells
Martin O’Donnell vs Gary Wilson
Wang Yuchen vs Si Jiahui
Liu Wenwei vs Lei Peifan
Fan Zhengyi vs Zhao/Brown
Click here to view the updated draw and results (snooker.org)
How to watch the 2025 International Championship
There are several options available to watch the upcoming snooker live, depending on your location.
Many of the popular betting sites provide live streaming of snooker events through signing up on their websites or apps.
Below is a full list of the official options, as published on the World Snooker Tour website:
UK & Ireland
TNT Sports and discovery+
Mainland Europe
Eurosport and locally relevant streaming platforms
(discovery+ in Germany, Italy and Austria and HBO Max in all other markets)
China
CCTV5
Huya.com
Migu
CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel
CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
Hong Kong China
Now TV
Macao China
CCTV5
Taiwan
Sportcast
Thailand
True Sport
All other territories
WST Play
Featured photo credit: WST
