The International Championship in China is down to the quarter-finals, with the Race to York as the subplot as the results of the last three days in Tianjin will determine the 16 seeds to automatically go through to the MrQ UK Championship.
All players outside the top 16 as it stands on Monday will head to the qualifying rounds in Leicester (November 18-23), then the 16 who make it through the qualifiers will join the top 16 seeds for the televised phase at the York Barbican (November 25 to December 3).
The top 14 players on the provisional seeding list, down to Robert Milkins, are all safe. Ding Junhui is among the quarter-finalists in Tianjin though in 15th spot he is not quite safe yet. The player most in danger of dropping out is Hossein Vafaei in 16th, and having lost in the last 64 in China he can only watch and hope he clings on.
His closest challenger is Tom Ford, who must reach the final to go above Vafaei. Also in contention are Stephen Maguire, Zhang Anda and Jordan Brown, but they must all win the title to earn a place in York.
International Championship prize money:
Winner: £175,000
Runner-up: £75,000
Semi-finals: £33,000
Quarter-finals: £22,000
Last 16: £14,000
Last 32: £9,000
Last 64: £5,000
High break: £5,000
Total: £825,000
The last place in next week’s Champion of Champions is also up for grabs. Ding will earn that spot either if he wins the title in China, or if Ronnie O’Sullivan, Barry Hawkins or Ali Carter take the top prize. But Ford, Maguire, Zhang and Brown could all take that place and knock Ding out with victory this week.
The post Race To York: Quartet Still In The Hunt appeared first on World Snooker.
