Snooker Champions League: He Guoqiang wins and advances to the top 32 of the Chinese Legion

China News Service, Leicester, UK, June 27th The 2026 Snooker Champions League (Ranking Tournament) will continue the first stage of competition in Leicester, UK on the 26th local time. Three Chinese golfers participated that day. He Guoqiang advanced strongly with his unbeatable record in the group stage. The number of top 32 seats gained by the Chinese Legion increased to four.

The Snooker Champions League (ranking tournament) is a famous short-game snooker tournament. This Champions League is divided into three stages. In the first stage, the 128 participating players are divided into 32 groups, with 4 players in each group participating in a round-robin match. The top team in the group advances to the top 32 to participate in the second stage of the competition. Before the game that day, three Chinese golfers, Xu Si, Chang Bingyu and Zhang Anda, had already qualified for the top 32 of this tournament.

He Guoqiang and Liu Yang are in the 28th group this time fighting for the opportunity to qualify. The other two players in the same group are both from England, namely Dylan Smith and Sean O'Sullivan. In the first round, both Chinese players won. He Guoqiang defeated Dylan Smith 3-0, and Liu Yang defeated Sean O'Sullivan 3-1. In the second round, He Guoqiang relied on a higher-quality offense to win the "derby" with Liu Yang 3-1. Dylan Smith was completely defeated by Sean O'Sullivan 0-3.

In the decisive battle of the final round, He Guoqiang defeated Sean O'Sullivan with another neat 3-0. In the end, he won three out of three games and successfully secured a place in the top 32. Liu Yang also won this battle, but ended up ranking second in the group with two wins and one loss and missed the qualification.

Another Chinese player, Lu Haotian, was placed in Group 14 for this campaign. The other three players in the same group were England's powerful player Gary Wilson, Switzerland's Alexander Ursenbach, and Welsh player Duane Jones. Lv Haotian was in poor initial form that day and lost to Alexander Ursenbach 1-3 in the first round. Although there were adjustments later, the overall situation was quite passive. In the second and third rounds, he drew with Duane Jones and Gary Wilson respectively. In the end, he drew two and lost one, and missed the promotion.

In this group, Gary Wilson came out on top with two wins and one draw, and got another top 32 spot decided that day.

On June 27, local time, the first stage of this Snooker Champions League will continue to be held in Leicester, England. Chinese golfer Pang Junxu will play in Group 15. (over)