The 2022 Q School was a series of five

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

tournaments held at the start of the

2022–23 snooker season The 2022–23 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from June 2022 to May 2023. Players The World Snooker Tour in the 2022–23 season initially consisted of a field of 131 professional players, but later dropped to 130 w ...

. An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...

for the following two seasons. The events took place in May and June 2022 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England and also at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Thailand with a total 16 players qualifying via the five tournaments. The three events held in England were organised by the World Snooker Tour, whilst those in Thailand were organised by the Billiard Sports Association of Thailand.

Format

The 2022 Q School consisted of five events, three held in the UK and two "Asia-Oceania" events held in Thailand. The three UK events had 173 entries competing for 12 places on the main tour, while the two Asia-Oceania events had 70 players competing for a further four places. The Asia-Oceania events were only open to residents of those continents. All matches were the best of seven frames.

Event 1

The first 2022 Q School event was held from 16 to 21 May 2022 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in

, England.

Rod Lawler Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English retired professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod". After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tourna ...

Fergal O'Brien Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish retired professional snooker player who competed on the World Snooker Tour from 1991 to 2024. He won one ranking title during his career, defeating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final of the 1999 ...

Andy Lee Andy Lee may refer to: __NOTOC__ Sportspeople * Andy Lee (American football) (born 1982), American football punter * Andy Lee (boxer) (born 1984), Irish boxer * Andy Lee (footballer, born 1982), English footballer for Bradford City * Andy Lee (footb ...

and

Bai Langning Bai Langning (, born 17 April 2002) is a Chinese former professional snooker player who, in 2023, received a ban of two years and eight months from professional competition after committing match-fixing offences. In December 2022, Bai was suspe ...

qualified. The results of the four final matches are given below. * 4–3 * 4–1 * 4–2 * 4–3

Event 2

The second 2022 Q School event was held from 22 to 27 May 2022 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in

, England.

Adam Duffy Adam Duffy (born 30 March 1989) is an English former professional snooker player. Duffy qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the third and final 2011 Q School event. Career Debut season As a n ...

Zak Surety Zak Surety (born 4 October 1991) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Stuart Bingham and Allan Taylor. Career As an amateur, Surety based in Basildon entered in Players Tour Championship events from their e ...

, Aaron Hill and

Sanderson Lam Sanderson Lam () (born 28 January 1994) is an English professional snooker player. Early life Lam was born to Chinese parents in Leeds, England. His parents moved to England in the 1980s. Career In 2011, Lam started to take part in the Players ...

qualified. The results of the four final matches are given below. * 4–3 * 4–2 * 4–1 * 4–3

Event 3

The third 2022 Q School event was held from 28 May to 2 June 2022 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in

, England.

Lukas Kleckers Lukas Kleckers (born 18 May 1996 in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German former professional snooker player. Career Kleckers first drew attention in 2013 when, at the age of 17, he captured the highest ranking and most prestigious amateur ...

, Jenson Kendrick, John Astley and James Cahill qualified. The results of the four final matches are given below. * 4–3 * 4–1 * 4–2 * 4–1

Asia-Oceania event 1

The first 2022 Asia-Oceania Q School event was held from 1 to 5 June 2022 at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club in

, Thailand. Muhammad Asif and

Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon ( ''Ṭhnwạtʹhn̒ T̄hirphngṣ̄̒phịbūly̒''; born December 14, 1993) is a Thai former professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010 as the Asian nomination following his run to the semi-finals of t ...

qualified. The results of the two final matches are given below. * 4–2 * 4–2 On 22 June 2022, the

WPBSA The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards. It is headquartered in Bristol, England. Founded as the Professional Billiard Players Association (PBPA) in ...

and the

declined to offer

a tour card, citing "serious disciplinary matters from when Thanawat was previously a professional player in 2015" as the reason, later announced to be a resumption of a previous investigation into match-fixing that had been closed due to Thanawat having fallen off the tour at the time. His place was therefore offered to Asjad Iqbal, who was the next in line on the Asia-Oceania Q School Order of Merit.

Asia-Oceania event 2

The second 2022 Asia-Oceania Q School event was held from 7 to 11 June 2022 at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club in

, Thailand.

Dechawat Poomjaeng Dechawat Poomjaeng ( ''Dechāwạt Phùmcæ̂ng'', born July 11, 1978) is a Thai former professional snooker player. Career Early career He won the 2010 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Damascus, Syria, defeating India's Pankaj Advani 10– ...

and Himanshu Jain qualified. The results of the two final matches are given below. * 4–1 * 4–3

Q School Order of Merit

A Q School Order of Merit was produced for players who failed to gain a place on the main tour. The Order of Merit was used to top up fields for the

where an event failed to attract the required number of entries. The rankings in the Order of Merit were based on the number of frames won in the three UK Q School events. Players who received a bye into the second round were awarded four points for round one. Where players were equal, those who won the most frames in the first event were ranked higher and, if still equal, the player with most frames in event two.

Zhao Jianbo Zhao Jianbo (, born 27 August 2003) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. The WPBSA suspended Zhao from World Snooker Tour events in January 2023, amid a match-fixing investigation, and subsequently charged him with fixing a match. ...

led the Order of Merit. In addition 48 players were seeded in the 2022–23 Q Tour UK/Europe events based on their position in the 2022 Q School Orders of Merit. These were the top 32 eligible players from the 2022 UK Q School Order of Merit, the top eight from the 2022 Asia-Oceania Q School Order of Merit, and the eight highest ranked junior players on the 2022 UK Q School Order of Merit, not already qualified. The leading players in the UK Q School Order of Merit are given below.

References

{{2022–23 snooker season Q School (snooker) 2022 in English sport 2022 in snooker Sports competitions in Sheffield