The eighth ranking event of the 2017/18 snooker season starts on Sunday, October 29th. This is the International Championship which is being played out in Daqing, China. This main draw is for 64 players and on the opening day of the tournament there will be some qualification matches for that main draw being played out and some of those qualifiers include big names like defending champion Mark Selby and former winner John Higgins.
There are the usual big contenders in the field and Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby are trading as joint 9/2 favourites to collect the victory at the event. Judd Trump who is looking for his first ranking win this season is an 11/2 option, while Ding Junhui is the only other player coming in under single figures at 15/2. John Higgins, aka the Wizard of Wishaw, is sat at 10/1.
Ding leads homegrown challenge
The presence of China’s own Ding Junhui can’t be ignored in the draw at all. He is the leading presence of experience alongside a crop of young Chinese players on the rise. He has to be well worth considering for this tournament at a price of 15/2 with Ladbrokes and that is because, yes, he is on home soil and he has been to the final twice before of the International championship. That could be a telling factor because there is nothing like experience as well as tournament experience to lean on.
Ding Junhui won the tournament in 2013, which was just the second edition of the event. This is a fairly new tournament, with only five previous editions having been contested and Ding Junhui has been to the final twice and no other player can make such a bold claim. He got to the final of last season’s edition where he was smashed by Mark Selby but surely has to be targeting some redemption. He won the World Open (in China) just back in September and so combine that with his tournament history and you have a solid option.
Wilson knocking on the door
While Ding Junhui should have a good presence in the tournament, there is a big tempting price of 25/1 at Ladbrokes on Kyren Wilson that can’t be ignored, even at each way value for the International Championship snooker. Wilson had a tremendous run at the English Open recently, making it to the final where he was stopped harshly in his tracks by a rampant Ronnie O’Sullivan.
However, that was the second World Ranking final that Wilson has been in this season as he finished runner-up to Ding Junhui at the World Open in China in September. So he has been knocking loudly on the door of a World Ranking win and don’t forget that his first ever Ranking win came in China at the Shanghai Masters a couple of years ago. Since that breakthrough, he has been in three finals and three semi finals as well.