by Ben Hudd • July 22, 2023
The China Open 9-Ball Championship will make its awaited return following a four-year hiatus, with the famous tournament pencilled in for September 3-10 in Shanghai.
Former world champion Wu Jiaqing will defend his title on home soil, having beaten Anton Raga of the Philippines in the 2019 final, while three-time women’s champion Chen Siming could make her anticipated return.
Following the press release from the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Federation, the tournament will not be recognised by the World Nineball Tour rankings and will instead be a WPA-sanctioned tournament.
Therefore, the top 16 players on the WPA rankings as well as the defending champions will receive automatic spots into Stage Two.
The men’s and women’s tournaments will be held simultaneously, with Stage One taking place across three days from September 3-5 and consisting of three single elimination, winner breaks qualifying tournaments.
Those qualifying events will complete the respective Stage Two fields of 64 men and 48 women, who are then drawn into double elimination groups until the men’s last 32 and women’s last 16.
Then, the format switches up again as single elimination comes back into play until the finals, with the men’s tournament being race-to-eleven racks and the women’s competition being race-to-nine racks.
Both competitions will see matches played in accordance with the current WPA rules, one ball on the spot, winner breaks, no break box, and the three-point rule will be included.
The men’s champion and runner-up will receive $40,000 and $20,000 respectively, while the women’s champion and runner-up earn $36,000 and $18,000.
