china

China International
China Open
Shanghai Masters Jiangsu / Wuxi Classic

World Ranking / Invitation Events

Brief History of the Major Snooker Events in China

The first major international tournament in China was the Catch China International in September 1997, an invitation event with a mixture of top sixteen stars and Local Chinese players. The following season it became a full ranking event initially held in March. The following season it changed its name to the China Open and moved to December so there were actually two events in 1999. In 2001/02 it reverted to its March slot in the calendar. There were no ranking tournaments held in the Far East for the next two seasons but the event returned to the schedule in March 2004. As with most of the overseas ranking events it had become common practice for a number of local ‘wild cards’ to be invited to play against some of the qualifiers. By now China had three players on the tour and they were invited to play as wild cards rather than try and qualify in the usual way. Ding Junhui was one of these and he took his opportunity beating Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty, without conceding a frame, before meeting Stephen Hendry in the final and beating him 9-5. Because he had entered as a wild card he did not get the prize money or ranking points but a new star had arrived.

In the 2008 China Open, Stephen Maguire made a 147 maximum in the semi finals on his way to taking the title. Even though James Wattana made one in the inaugural, non-ranking, China International, this was the first maximum ever in a ranking event in Asia. Neil Robertson made his first 147 in the 2010 event which Mark Williams won for the third time.

The huge interest in the game in China brought forward welcome sponsors and in 2007/8 a second ranking event was introduced, the Shanghai Masters which was initially staged at the Shanghai Grand Stage in mid August. In 2009 China had its first finalist in this event when Liang Wenbo lost 105 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

A World Snooker backed invitation event, the Jiangsu Classic, was introduced in 2008 with eight top 16 professionals and four Chinese qualifiers played on a round robin basis with two groups plus semi final and final. Early rounds were played in Nanjing with the final in Wuxi City. In its second year there were ten top 16 professionals plus two invited Chinese professionals and then in 2010 it was renamed the Wuxi Classic.

Roll of Honour

CHINA INTERNATIONAL/ OPEN

Season	Venue	Sponsor	Winner	Runner Up	Score	1st Prize
1997/8*	Beijing	Catch	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	7-4	£10,000
1998/99	JC Mandarin Hotel, Shanghai	none	John Higgins	Billy Snaddon	9-3	£42,000
Renamed	CHINA OPEN
1999/00	JC Mandarin Hotel, Shanghai	none	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Lee	9-2	£50,000
2000/1	Mission Hills, Shenzan	Mission Hills	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Mark J. Williams	9-3	£50,000
2001/2	Int. Gymnastics Centre, Shanghai	none	Mark J. Williams	Anthony Hamilton	9-8	£50,000
2004/5	Haidian Stadium, Beijing	none	Ding Junhui	Stephen Hendry	9-5	£30,000
2005/6	Beijing University Student's Gymnasium	Star Dragon Woods Villa	Mark J. Williams	John Higgins	9-8	£30,000
2006/7	Beijing University Student's Gymnasium	Honghe Industrial	Graeme Dott	Jamie Cope	9-5	£35,000
2007/8	Beijing University Student's Gymnasium	Honghe Industrial	Stephen Maguire	Shaun Murphy	10-9	£48,000
2008/9	Beijing University Student's Gymnasium	Bank of Beijing	Peter Ebdon	John Higgins	10-8	£52,000
2009/10	Beijing University Student's Gymnasium	Sanyuan Foods	Mark J. Williams	Ding Junhui	10-6	£55,000
2010/11	Beijing University Student's Gymnasium	Bank of Beijing	Judd Trump	Mark Selby	10-8	£60,000

*Non Ranking

Maximum Breaks - China International/Open

Final Stages
James Wattana	1997/8*	Quarter Final v. Pang Wei Guo
Stephen Maguire	2007/8	Semi Final v. Ryan Day
Neil Robertson	2009/10	Last 16 v. Peter Ebdon
Qualifying Rounds
Mehmet Husnu	1998/9	Qual R1 v. Eddie Barker (Aug '98)

*non-ranking

SHANGHAI MASTERS

Season	Venue	Sponsor	Winner	Runner Up	Score	1st Prize
2007/8	Shanghai Grand Stage	Roewe	Dominic Dale	Ryan Day	10-6	£48,000
2008/9	Shanghai Grand Stage	Roewe	Ricky Walden	Ronnie O'Sullivan	10-8	£52,000
2009/10	Shanghai Grand Stage	Roewe	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Liang Wenbo	10-5	£55,000
2010/11	Shanghai Grand Stage	Roewe	Allister Carter	Jamie Burnett	10-7	£60,000
2010/11	Shanghai Grand Stage	Bank of Communication	Mark Selby	Mark J. Williams	10-9	£65,000

Maximum Breaks- Shanghai Masters

Final Stages
Jamie Cope	2008/9	Last 16 v. Mark Williams

JIANGSU / WUXI CLASSIC Invitation Event
(Jiangsu Classic 2008 & 2009; Wuxi Classic from 2010

Season	Venue	Sponsor	Winner	Runner Up	Score	1st Prize
2008	Nanjing & Wuxi City	Guolian Securities	Ding Junhui	Mark Selby	6-5	£20,000
2009/	Wuxi City	Wuzhou International Group	Mark Allen	Ding Junhui	6-0	£20,000
2010	Wuxi City	Rundili	Shaun Murphy	Ding Junhui	9-8	£20,000
2011	Wuxi City	none	Mark Selby	Allister Carter	9-7	£20,000

Maximum Breaks- Jiansu / Wuxi Classic

Mark Selby

2009

Group Stage v. Joe Perry

Jan	FEB	Aug
	16
2009	2012	2013