Jackson Page joined Zhang Anda in Stage Two of Championship League Snooker after emerging from a closely contested Group 25 on Wednesday.
The Welshman reached the final of the Championship League in 2024 and made another positive start to his campaign in the ranking event this year.
Page opened with a 3-1 victory over Ashley Hugill before following up with back-to-back 2-2 scorelines against Artemijs Zizins and Long Zehuang.
The 24 year-old’s qualification wasn’t confirmed until the final round of fixtures of the day, however, with five out of the six round-robin games ending in draws.
Zizins would have leapfrogged Page into first place in the standings had he beaten Hugill in the last match, but the Latvian surrendered a 2-0 lead as the pair shared the spoils.
The result, plus Page’s following 2-2 tie with Long, ensured that Page progressed to Stage Two as the Group 25 winner.
Meanwhile, Zhang enjoyed a much more straightforward route through Group 10.
With only a few higher-ranked players featuring in this edition of the competition, Zhang is one of the top ten seeds in the field.
The Chinese cueist underlined his credentials by winning all three of his round-robin fixtures, dropping only a single frame in victories over Daniel Womersley, Ross Muir, and Jiang Jun.
Zhang also compiled a couple of century breaks as he scored heavily throughout the day’s play to comfortably secure top spot in the standings.
Page and Zhang join Xu Si, Dylan Emery, Chang Bingyu, and Ian Burns in Stage Two, which won’t get under way until the opening phase of the tournament has been completed.
There are still 26 more group winners to be determined, with another couple of groups scheduled for Thursday in Leicester.
Yuan Sijun headlines Group 20 alongside Scott Donaldson, Sahil Nayyar, and Bai Yulu, while former Championship League champion David Gilbert fronts Group 21 with Ricky Walden, Mahmoud El Hareedy, and women’s world champion Panchaya Channoi for company.
Championship League Snooker represents the opening ranking event of the fledgling 2026/27 snooker season.
The overall winner on July 15th 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.
Wednesday, June 24
Group 10 Results
Zhang Anda 3-0 Daniel Womersley
Jiang Jun 3-1 Ross Muir
Jiang Jun 3-1 Daniel Womersley
Zhang Anda 3-0 Ross Muir
Ross Muir 2-2 Daniel Womersley
Zhang Anda 3-1 Jiang Jun
Group 10 Table
1. Zhang Anda – 9 points
2. Jiang Jun – 6 points
3. Ross Muir – 1 point
4. Daniel Womersley – 1 point
Click here for more information about the tournament.
Group 25 Results
Jackson Page 3-1 Ashley Hugill
Long Zehuang 2-2 Artemijs Zizins
Long Zehuang 2-2 Ashley Hugill
Jackson Page 2-2 Artemijs Zizins
Artemijs Zizins 2-2 Ashley Hugill
Jackson Page 2-2 Long Zehuang
Group 25 Table
1. Jackson Page – 5 points
2. Long Zehuang – 3 points
3. Artemijs Zizins – 3 points
4. Ashley Hugill – 2 points
Featured photo credit: WST
