Gary Wilson and He Guoqiang safely progressed to Stage Two as Championship League Snooker continued on Friday in Leicester.
Both players went undefeated to finish top of their respective round-robin groups in the season-opening ranking event at the Mattioli Arena.
Wilson had a below-average second half to the last campaign and his failure to defend a lot of ranking points meant that he slipped down the rankings somewhat.
The Englishman, who has always struggled a bit with consistency, beat Duane Jones 3-1 before whitewashing Alexander Ursenbacher to take full command of Group 14.
That effectively guaranteed his spot in the last 32 of the competition, leaving not much to play for during his 2-2 draw against Lyu Haotian in his last fixture of the day.
Group 28, meanwhile, was supposed to feature Anthony McGill but the Scot withdrew – gifting an opportunity for someone else to seize.
Up stepped China’s He, the 25 year-old producing a dominant display to win all three of his matches to the loss of just a single frame.
He beat McGill’s replacement Dylan Smyth at the start of play and duly backed it up with victories against Liu Yang and Sean O’Sullivan.
Wilson and He will rejoin the tournament in a couple of weeks, but before that there are still a lot of groups winners from Stage One to be determined.
There will be a couple more on Saturday with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh fronting Group 8 alongside Louis Heathcote, Reanne Evans, and Dean Young.
Pang Junxu has David Lilley, Fergal Quinn, and Luo Zetao for company in Group 15.
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.
Friday, June 26
Group 14 Results
Gary Wilson 3-1 Duane Jones
Alexander Ursenbacher 3-1 Lyu Haotian
Lyu Haotian 2-2 Duane Jones
Gary Wilson 3-0 Alexander Ursenbacher
Alexander Ursenbacher 2-2 Duane Jones
Gary Wilson 2-2 Lyu Haotian
Group 14 Table
1. Gary Wilson – 7 points
2. Alexander Ursenbacher – 4 points
3. Lyu Haotian – 2 points
4. Duane Jones – 2 points
Click here for more information about the tournament.
Group 28 Results
He Guoqiang 3-0 Dylan Smith
Liu Yang 3-1 Sean O’Sullivan
Sean O’Sullivan 3-0 Dylan Smith
He Guoqiang 3-1 Liu Yang
Liu Yang 3-1 Dylan Smith
He Guoqiang 3-0 Sean O’Sullivan
Group 28 Table
1. He Guoqiang – 9 points
2. Liu Yang – 6 points
3. Sean O’Sullivan – 3 points
4. Dylan Smith – 0 points
Featured photo credit: WST
