The next major ranking event in the Snooker season is the International Championship out in Daqing, China. This is the 8th ranking event of the season and it will start on October 29th and run through to November 5th. The qualifying for the event took place back at the end of September and going back to the tournament as the reigning champion is Mark Selby who crushed Ding Junhui twelve months ago 10-1 in the final. Selby goes as 9/2 joint favourite at Betfair alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan for the event.
There is a 64 man field for the main draw and all rounds up to an including the quarter finals are the best of 11 frames. Things then step up to the best of 17 frames for the semi finals and then go to best of 19 for the Final itself. The tournament starts on October 29th and there will be the remainder of the qualifying matches played out there on that day, including Mark Selby, John Higgins, Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo all getting their qualification matches done.
Snooker International Championship Betting Odds
Ronnie O’Sullivan 9/2, Mark Selby 9/2, Judd Trump 11/2, Ding Junhui 15/2, John Higgins 10/1, Neil Robertson 14/1, Shaun Murphy 20/1, Mark Allen 25/1, Mark Williams 33/1, Barry Hawkins 22/1, Kyren Wilson 25/1, 40/1 bar
Mark Selby
Selby is the reigning champion after getting his hands on the title for the first time last year. Going in the tournament he has warmed up pretty well with a recent win at the Haining Open, taking down Tom Ford in the final. That was non-ranking title though and he hasn’t yet gotten his hands on a ranking title yet for the 2017/18 season. He only made it to the third round of the English Open recently where he was stopped by Xiao Guodong, but should be a decent challenger in this on the back of his win last season.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Rocket eased his way to the English Open title recently, beating Kyren Wilson 9-2 in the tournament in Barnsley. That was pretty much a cruise for him all the way and he looked to be enjoying himself at the table. That was his first title of the new season, bettering his runners up place at the Hong Kong Masters earlier the season. Just because of the form he was showing last week, looking relaxed he should well be in the mix, but the Rocket is at that stage where upsets are as likely as him rattling off a quick fire century. Does he have the full focus to win back to back events.
Judd Trump
Trump won this season’s European Masters, a World Ranking event and he was untroubled in qualifying for the International Championship as he smashed Scotland’s Chris Totten 6-0. Trump made it to the last sixteen of the English Open recently, taking a surprise hit against Jack Lisowski, but is obviously a stronger player than that and he does have a little bit of form tournament history as well because he won the inaugural event back in 2012 in beating Neil Robertson. He’s a decent 11/2 jolly at Betfair.
Ding Junhui
The Chinese star would have had high hopes going into last season’s final on home soil, but blew it badly in that heavy loss against Mark Selby. Still, it was a good tournament for him and he has a World Ranking event under his belt this season with a win at the World Open last month. He is one of those players who no-one else in the field is really going to want to meet and he will be looking for some serious redemption after a second round exit at the English Open recently. He is the only man in the field to have been to two separate International Championship finals, winning it 2013.
John Higgins
John Higgins won the International Championship just two years ago and it’s always worthwhile looking at players with tournament history behind them. He took a last sixteen defeat against Ronnie O’Sullivan at the English Open recently, which was a bit of a kick in the pants for him, but he has been in the winners circle already this season with a victory at the Indian Open. Still a threat.
The Best of the Rest
Kyren Wilson has had a good season with runners up places at the World Open and the recent English Open. He did take the World Games (non ranking) tournament as well earlier in the season so has been one of the steadier, more reliable players on the circuit this season and is always a good underdog. Australia’s Neil Robertson had a good run at the English Open recently and could get himself in the mix and Liang Wenbo on home soil could easily play himself into the mix. He took a 147 maximum at the English Open recently.
Snooker International Championship Prediction
As for a favourite who could go all the way, then Ding Junhui, who has better tournament history than any other player in the field has to be a good priced option. Back to back World Ranking wins for O’Sullivan would be a little bit of a stretch as he has a bit of a tricky draw and could meet Trump in the semis. Mark Selby will have his mental focus dialled in as the reigning champion and he is overdue a title this season as well. As for an outsider, it has to be Kyren Wilson who has seriously knocked on the door of a World Ranking victory this season.
