Champion of Champions 2015: Haining Open Update
The highest ranked player previously set to miss out on qualification for this year’s Champion of Champions tournament, world number four Ding Junhui today moved into position to take the 16th and final place in the competition with victory at the 2015 Haining Open.
The updated list of qualifiers is therefore as follows, players numbered by qualification place, not seeding:
1. 2014 Champion of Champions – Ronnie O’Sullivan (Not entered)
2. 2014 UK Championship (Dec) – Ronnie O’Sullivan
3. 2015 Masters (Jan) – Shaun Murphy (1)
4. 2015 German Masters (Feb) – Mark Selby (2)
5. 2015 Welsh Open (Feb) – John Higgins (3)
6. 2015 Championship League Snooker (Feb) – Stuart Bingham (4)
7. 2015 Indian Open (Mar) – Michael White (5)
8. 2015 World Grand Prix (Mar) – Judd Trump (6)
9. 2015 Players Championship (Mar) – Joe Perry (7)
10. 2015 China Open (Apr) – Mark Selby
11. 2015 World Championship (May) – Stuart Bingham
12. 2015 World Cup (June) – Zhou Yuelong (8), Yan Bingtao (9)
13. 2015 Australian Open (July) – John Higgins
14. 2015 Shanghai Masters (Sept) – Kyren Wilson (10)
15. 2015 International Championship (Oct) – TBC
16. ET4 (Nov) – Shaun Murphy
17. ET5 (Dec) – Stephen Maguire (11)
18. ET6 (Feb) – Neil Robertson (12)
19. ET1 (Aug) – Barry Hawkins (13)
20. ET2 (Aug) – Ali Carter (14)
21. ET3 (Oct) – Rory McLeod (15)
22. ET4 (Nov) TBC
23. Asian Tour 3 (Jan) – Joe Perry
24. Asian Tour 1 (Oct) – Ding Junhui (16)
25. Six Reds World Championship (Sept) – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (17)
26. The Shoot Out (Jan) – Michael White
27. The World Seniors Championship (Oct) Mark Williams (18)
As was the case prior to the Haining Open, we know that the first 15 on the above list (bolded) are now certain of their places at the Champion of Champions event.
However, although Ding Junhui has now moved into position number 16 (ending the chances of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh), with two qualifying events remaining prior to the Champion of Champions, he is not yet certain of a place at the tournament.
Should either the International Championship or the Bulgarian Open be won by a player who is not one of the 15 to have already qualified to play in Coventry, they would replace Ding at the tournament.
If both the Internatonal Championship and Bulgarian Open events are won by such players, the winner of the International Championship would take the qualifying place at Ding’s expense, with the winner of the Bulgarian Open also missing out.
Additional tickets for the Champion of Champions have recently been released, while you can see when the top eight seeds will be in action over at www.worldsnooker.com
