The 2006 Snooker China Open was officially cued open at the Beijing
University Students Gymnasium on Monday morning. Nine of the
world's top 10 players, along with 19-year-old Chinese wunderkind
and last year's champion Ding Junhui, will be battling it out for
this year's title worth US$526,000.
Missing from this tournament's line-up, which runs from March 20
to 26, is current World No. 7 Steve Davis.
Other no-shows include Jin Long, ranked No.1 in China last year,
who was disqualified from competing by virtue of his absence from
the preliminary games. Liang Wenbo and Hong Kong's Marco Fu were
also ejected after losing their qualifiers last November.
Like at the 2005 China Open, all eight wildcards have been given
to the Chinese, including Cao Kaisheng, Li Yinxi, Yang Qingtian,
Liu Chuang, Yu Delu, and Zheng Peng, who shined in last year's
domestic professional ranking competition. Four of them were born
after 1987, a clear indication that the China Billiards and Snooker
Association (CBSA) is eager to offer young talents the opportunity
to compete with world-class veterans.
In tomorrow's first round of games, Stephen Hendry will take on
Barry Hawkins, who pulled a 10-6 win against Ding Junhui in the
final qualifying round of the 888.com World Snooker Championship at
Prestatyn in Wales last week. "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sullivan, who
didn't compete in China last year, will be faced from Thai star
James Wattana, the former world No.3 who has done much to
popularize the sport in Asia. Other duels include Mark Williams vs.
Drew Henry, and John Higgins vs. Stuart Bingham.
On Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM local time, Ding, defending his
title, will?play his first game?vs. compatriot,?Yang
Qingtian, who beat?Dave Harold?five frames to two on
Monday afternoon. Ding said he is under tremendous pressure to play
well, and his goal is only to "do the best" he can.
Tang Fengxiang, secretary general of the CBSA, believes that it
would be difficult for Ding to pull a "miracle" victory at this
event. He said the goal should be set at entering the last
eight.
Ding Junhui
It will be Best of Nine Frames games until the quarterfinals,
Best of 11 Frames for the semis, and Best of 17 for the finals on
March 26.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, March 20, 2006)
