The 2023 International Championship (officially the 2023 Du Xiaoman International Championship) was a professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament that took place from 5 to 12 November 2023 at the in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It was the ninth iteration of the

International Championship The International Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Judd Trump. History The event was introduced in the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", because the tournament ha ...

first held in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, a return of the event to the tour after a three-year hiatus due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It was the first time the event had been held in Tianjin, introducing it as a new host city for World Snooker Tour tournaments. Judd Trump was the defending champion, after defeating

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

in the previous final, but he lost to Stephen Maguire in the last 32. Chinese player Zhang Anda won his first ranking title, by defeating England's Tom Ford in the final, and made a maximum break in the third frame. Ryan Day made the highest break in qualifying with a maximum break, the fourth in his career, in his win against Mink Nutcharut. By winning the event, Zhang advanced to within the

top 16 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

for the first time in his career, received £175,000 from a total prize fund of £825,000, and secured a place in the

2023 Champion of Champions The 2023 Champion of Champions (officially the 2023 Cazoo Champion of Champions) was a professional snooker tournament that took between 13 and 19 November 2023 at the University of Bolton Stadium in Bolton, England. The 13th edition of the Cham ...

invitational event which started on the day following the end of this event.

Format

The event was the ninth iteration of the

, first held in

. The event took place from 5 to 12 November 2023 in

. Qualifying for the event was held from 18 to 23 September 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England. Matches were best of 11 until the semi-finals, which were best of 17 frames, and the final was a best-of-19-frames match. The event was broadcast domestically in China by

CCTV-5 CCTV-5 (), also known as the Sports Channel, part of the China Central Television family of networks, is the main sports broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CCTV-5 began broadcasting on 1 January 1995. CCTV-5 now broadcasts 24 hours ...

, Migu,

Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquarters in the Sinosteel Plaza in Haidian ...

, and Huya Live; in Thailand on

True Sports True Sports is a Thai group of sport channels operated by cable and satellite pay-TV provider TrueVisions. True Sport channels are available exclusively on TrueVisions. The number of channels are depends on the package. True Sports holds exclusi ...

; in Hong Kong on Now TV; and in Europe (including the UK) by

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

and

Discovery+ Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below: * Winner: £175,000 * Runner-up: £75,000 * Semi-final: £33,000 * Quarter-final: £22,000 * Last 16: £14,000 * Last 32: £9,000 * Last 64: £5,000 * Highest break: £5,000 * Total: £825,000

Summary

Qualifying round

Ryan Day made his fourth professional maximum break in his qualifying match against Mink Nutcharut, which Day won . The 12th seed,

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998. Milkins ...

was beaten by Marco Fu, and the 24th seed, Joe Perry was beaten by

Dylan Emery Dylan Emery (born 31 March 2001) is a Welsh professional snooker player. The winner of the 2021 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships, he defeated Julien Leclercq in the final, 5–2. As a result of this win, he has earned a place on the ...

Early rounds

Held-over matches

The held-over qualifying matches were played on 5 November. Top seed Trump extended his winning streak to 21 matches with a defeat of 12-year-old Chinese wildcard Wang Xinzhong, who previously prevailed over another wildcard Gong Chenzhi by on the same day. Second seed

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made hi ...

had a win over Daniel Womersley. Third seed Ronnie O'Sullivan scored a win over Ken Doherty.

Last 64

The last-64 matches were played on 5 and 6 November. Fourth seed

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

came from down to beat Oliver Lines . Brecel was defeated by

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

, and tenth seed Mark Williams was beaten by Zhang Anda by the same scoreline. O'Sullivan defeated Mark Joyce , Daniel Wells beat sixth seed Neil Robertson , and Dominic Dale beat seventh seed Murphy .

Last 32

The last-32 matches were played on 7 November. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh defeated fourth seed Allen , and Jordan Brown beat eighth seed Kyren Wilson . The defending champion and top seed Trump was beaten by Maguire , ending his winning streak of 22 consecutive ranking matches.

Last 16

The last-16 matches were played on 8 November. Jordan Brown defeated ninth seed John Higgins , and Tom Ford beat fifth seed Mark Selby by the same scoreline. Both O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui won their last-16 matches by , beating Anthony McGill and Pang Junxu respectively.

Later rounds

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were played on 9 November. In the afternoon Ford defeated Barry Hawkins , and Brown beat Maguire . Maguire's century (115) in the tenth frame was his 500th as a professional. In the evening session O'Sullivan defeated Ali Carter , and Zhang beat Ding .

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played as the best of 17 frames over two sessions on 10 and 11 November. Ford played Brown on 10 November, and the afternoon session ended at with both players making a century. In the evening session, Brown made a century of 134 in the ninth frame and went on to establish a lead. Ford then made three centuries in a row to lead by , and won the match with a break of 57 in the last frame. Ford said: "I don't feel as though I'm going to fall apart this week. It doesn't matter who I play, I feel like I can get in the balls and play as well as anybody." Brown said: "I was disappointed with the way I played to be honest. I don't want to take anything away from Tom. I thought he finished off the match very well. I think I just ran out of gas in the end." O'Sullivan played Zhang on 11 November, with the afternoon session ending all square at . In the evening session, Zhang won the match , taking all of the last five frames with a century (114) in the 13th frame. Zhang said: "I personally like to play the long matches, because my performance in these matches is quite good. It makes it easier for me to feel involved, and it will slowly get me into the rhythm of the game." O'Sullivan said: "He played well and deserved to win. He was the better player on the day, so fair play to him. I expected him to be like that as I've played him a few times, he was solid. He is a fantastic player, I don't know where he has been for the last ten years."

Final

The final was played as the best of 19 frames over two sessions between Ford and Zhang on 12 November. It is the first ranking event final since the 2022 Scottish Open to feature two players who have not won a ranking title before. In the afternoon session Zhang made a

147 147 may refer to: * 147 (number), a natural number * AD 147, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century * 147 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 147 AH, a year in the Islamic calendar that corresponds to 764 – 765 CE ...

break in the third frame, his second as a professional. The session ended with Zhang leading Ford , with Zhang making a 101 break in the ninth frame. In the evening session, Ford made a 91 break to even the score at . Zhang won four consecutive frames to lead by , making a 108 break in the 13th frame, and won the final . Zhang said: "I'm feeling extremely excited. During the pandemic, I had considered retiring and giving up. But later on, I couldn't bear it and chose to return to the arena. I have been doing quite well in the past two or three years." Ford said: "I am gutted I got beat. Zhang was the better player so hats off to him. He deserved to win. It has been an amazing week. A nice arena and a big crowd. It is always good to come to China."

Main draw

The draw for the tournament is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners.

Top half

Bottom half

Final

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from 18 to 23 September 2023 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the top 32 seeded players, whilst players in bold denote match winners.

Tianjin

Qualifying matches featuring the defending champion ( Judd Trump), the top two players in the world rankings ( Ronnie O'Sullivan and

), the two highest ranked Chinese players ( Ding Junhui and Zhou Yuelong), and four Chinese wildcards (Gong Chenzhi, Bai Yulu, Wang Xinbo, and Wang Xinzhong) were held over to be played in

. The results of the held over matches played in

on 5 November were as follows:

Morning session

* 5–6 * 4–6 * 6–0

Afternoon session

* 6–2 * 6–1 * 6–0

Evening session

* 6–1 * 6–0

Sheffield

The results of the qualifying matches played in

were as follows:

18 September

* 6–2 * 3–6 * 6–3 * 5–6 * 6–3 * 6–1 * 6–3 * 6–3 * 6–0 * 6–1 * 6–3 * 6–5

19 September

* 4–6 * 6–0 * 6–1 * 6–4 * 3–6 * 6–2 * 6–0 * 2–6 * 6–4 * 6–3

20 September

* 6–4 * 6–1 * 6–0 * 6–3 * 6–2 * 6–3 * 4–6 * 6–1 * 6–0 * 6–4

21 September

* 6–2 * 6–3 * 6–5 * 6–2 * 6–2 * 6–3 * 6–2 * 6–4 * 6–0

22 September

* 4–6 * 6–5 * 5–6 * 6–3 * 6–1 * 6–2 * 6–1 * 6–1 * 6–4 * 6–0

23 September

* 6–1 * 6–4 * 6–3 * 6–4 * 6–2 * 2–6

Century breaks

Main stage centuries

A total of 112 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament. *

, 138, 128, 128, 124, 114, 108, 108, 104, 101 Zhang Anda * 142, 106, 104 Kyren Wilson * 141, 116, 114 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh * 141, 116, 109 Judd Trump * 139, 134, 130, 130, 115, 102 Ding Junhui * 139, 123, 121, 114 Barry Hawkins * 138

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

* 137, 118 Jack Lisowski * 137, 111

* 136, 122

* 135, 133, 125, 109, 106, 101, 100 Tom Ford * 134, 117, 116, 115, 104, 102 Jordan Brown * 134, 112 Stuart Bingham * 134 Noppon Saengkham * 133, 131, 130, 116, 112, 110 Ronnie O'Sullivan * 133, 129, 123, 109 Anthony McGill * 132, 132 Dominic Dale * 132, 130, 107

* 132, 126 Daniel Wells * 130, 103, 101

Jak Jones Jak Jones (born 29 July 1993) is a Welsh professional snooker player. Jones was born in Cwmbran, Wales. He became a professional in 2010 at the age of 16, by winning the 2010 European Under 19 Snooker Championship in Malta. Career Professio ...

* 130 Matthew Stevens * 130

Lyu Haotian Lyu Haotian (, born 29 November 1997) is a snooker player from the People's Republic of China, notable for being one of the youngest snooker players to have played in professional tournaments, aged only 14. He reached the quarter-finals of the ...

* 130 Pang Junxu * 128, 118, 116, 115, 104 Stephen Maguire * 128

Scott Donaldson Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player. Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 ...

* 127, 127, 103 Ryan Day * 124, 118, 111, 107, 106, 102 Ali Carter * 120, 107, 105, 102 John Higgins * 120, 104 Anthony Hamilton * 118, 108, 104 Zhou Yuelong * 118 Chris Wakelin * 117 Mark Williams * 116 John Astley * 113 Xiao Guodong * 111 Long Zehuang * 110 Mark Selby * 106

Jackson Page Jackson Page (born 8 August 2001 in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He is a former European U-21 champion and the former Under-18 World Snooker Champion and in 2017 also became the Under-18 European Snooker Ch ...

* 106 Gary Wilson * 105 Ben Woollaston * 104

Jamie Jones Jamie Jones may refer to: * Jamie Jones (DJ), Welsh DJ, producer and two-time DJ Awards winner * Jamie Jones (footballer) (born 1989), English professional footballer for Wigan Athletic * Jamie Jones (snooker player) (born 1988), Welsh professional ...

* 103 Si Jiahui * 102 Oliver Lines * 101 David Gilbert

Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 43 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament. *

, 128 Ryan Day * 141, 130 Chris Wakelin * 138, 134 Elliot Slessor * 137, 115 John Higgins * 135

* 131 Joe O'Connor * 126 Jordan Brown * 125

* 124, 113

* 124

* 123, 117 Noppon Saengkham * 122 Julien Leclercq * 119, 101 Liam Pullen * 118, 112 Mark Williams * 118 Jimmy Robertson * 114

Ma Hailong Ma Hailong (; born 4 September 2003) is a snooker player from China. In February 2023, he won the 2023 World Snooker Federation Championship, and with it earned a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour. Early life At the age of thirteen, Ma ...

* 113 Rod Lawler * 112

Ross Muir Ross Muir (born 6 October 1995 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He regularly wears a glove on his bridge hand. Muir turned professional in 2013 after graduating from event two of the Q School, defeating David Mor ...

* 111 Cao Yupeng * 110

Liu Hongyu Liu Hongyu (; born January 11, 1975, in Liaoning) is a female Chinese race walker. Achievements See also *China at the World Championships in Athletics The People's Republic of China (PRC) first competed at the IAAF World Championships in At ...

* 109 Muhammad Asif * 109 Marco Fu * 108

* 106, 105 Hossein Vafaei * 104 Neil Robertson * 103, 103 Gary Wilson * 103 Barry Hawkins * 102 Long Zehuang * 102

David Lilley David William Lilley (born 31 October 1977 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer who usually plays at centre back but has also played at right back. Lilley was most recently the manager of Bellshill Athl ...

* 102 Mark Selby * 100 Sanderson Lam * 100

* 100 Pang Junxu

Notes

References

External links

World Snooker Tour – Home

World Snooker – Live Scores
{{DEFAULTSORT:International Championship, 2023 2023 in snooker 2023 in Chinese sport