The 2006 Snooker China Open was officially cued open at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium on Monday morning. Nine of the world's top 10 players, along with 19-year-old Chinese wunderkind and last year's champion Ding Junhui, will be battling it out for this year's title worth US$526,000.

Missing from this tournament's line-up, which runs from March 20 to 26, is current World No. 7 Steve Davis.

Other no-shows include Jin Long, ranked No.1 in China last year, who was disqualified from competing by virtue of his absence from the preliminary games. Liang Wenbo and Hong Kong's Marco Fu were also ejected after losing their qualifiers last November.

Like at the 2005 China Open, all eight wildcards have been given to the Chinese, including Cao Kaisheng, Li Yinxi, Yang Qingtian, Liu Chuang, Yu Delu, and Zheng Peng, who shined in last year's domestic professional ranking competition. Four of them were born after 1987, a clear indication that the China Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) is eager to offer young talents the opportunity to compete with world-class veterans.

In tomorrow's first round of games, Stephen Hendry will take on Barry Hawkins, who pulled a 10-6 win against Ding Junhui in the final qualifying round of the 888.com World Snooker Championship at Prestatyn in Wales last week. "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sullivan, who didn't compete in China last year, will be faced from Thai star James Wattana, the former world No.3 who has done much to popularize the sport in Asia. Other duels include Mark Williams vs. Drew Henry, and John Higgins vs. Stuart Bingham.

On Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM local time, Ding, defending his title, will play his first game vs. compatriot, Yang Qingtian, who beat Dave Harold five frames to two on Monday afternoon. Ding said he is under tremendous pressure to play well, and his goal is only to "do the best" he can.

Tang Fengxiang, secretary general of the CBSA, believes that it would be difficult for Ding to pull a "miracle" victory at this event. He said the goal should be set at entering the last eight.

Ding Junhui

It will be Best of Nine Frames games until the quarterfinals, Best of 11 Frames for the semis, and Best of 17 for the finals on March 26.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, March 20, 2006)