Twelve high quality snooker players are in action from this morning, including four Chinese, in the 2009 Wuzhou International Group World Snooker Jiangsu Classic (that is the full title!)
Three former World Champions in Stephen Hendry, Peter Ebdon and Shaun Murphy are joined by defending Jiangsu Classic Champion and crowd favourite, Ding Junhui.
Completing the line up top 16 stars, Marco Fu, Mark Selby, Mark Allen, Joe Perry, Ali Carter and Ryan Day and two other Chinese players in Jin Long and Li Hang.
The invitational tournament was first held in 2008 and was won by Ding Junhui, he will be looking to lift the title on home soil once again but faces some very stern opposition from some of snooker best known players.
Two groups of six players play a round-robin format with each playing competing against every other player in their group over the best of 3 frames. The top two from each group step through to the best of 9 semi finals and the final will be a best of 11 affair to be played on Sunday 7th June.
The Groups:
GROUP 1
Ding Junhui
Ryan Day
Mark Allen
Peter Ebdon
Stephen Hendry
Li Hang (Wildcard)
GROUP 2
Shaun Murphy
Ali Carter
Joe Perry
Mark Selby
Marco Fu
Jin Long (Wildcard)
Updates to follow.
