🎱 International Championship Snooker

Last season The International Championship returned to the snooker calendar for the first time in fourteen years and saw Zhang Anda beat Tom Ford 10-6 in an unexpected Final. Ding Junhui takes on Chris Wakelin in the 2024 final over nineteen frames.
🎱 International Championship Snooker
Darren Brett
Darren Brett Tipster Competition Manager

Horse Racing, greyhounds and snooker specialist with thirty years experience of writing about sport across multiple platforms. A QPR and Snooker fan

International Championship 2024: Format, Draw and Results

Final - Best of nineteen frames:

Chris Wakelin v Ding Junhui 7-10

Ding Junhui won his first ranking event since 2019 when proving three frames too good for Chris Wakelin in an atmospheric Nanjing where the crowd cheered on the home favourite. 

Wakelin looked to be in a great position when leading 4-1 but Ding responded like a true champion by taking the next six frames to move into a 7-4 lead. Wakelin then hit two 80+ breaks to pull back to 7-5but Ding made breaks of 98, 72 and 64 to  take three of the last four frames for a famous 10-7 victory. 

Ding was winning the International Championship for the second time after a previous victory in 2013 and this win seals his entry into next week's Champion of Champions.

All matches up to and including the quarter-finals are played over eleven frames. The semi-finals will be played over seventeen frames and the final will be the best of nineteen frames.

The International Championship can be watched in Europe via Eurosport and discovery+

The qualifying rounds for the International Championship took place at Ponds Forge Sports Centre in Sheffield.


Semi-Finals - Best of seventeen frames:

Chris Wakelin v Xiao Guodong 9-8

Ding Junhui v Xu Si 9-6

Quarter-Finals - Best of eleven frames:

John Higgins v Chris Wakelin 5-6

Jackson Page v Xiao Guodong 4-6

Xu Si v Gary WIlson 6-5

Ding Junhui v Kyren Wilson 6-4

Round Four - Best of eleven frames:

Lyu Haotian v John Higgins 5-6

Chris Wakelin v Mark Williams 6-4

Pang Junxu v Jackson Page 4-6

Judd Trump v Xu Si 4-6

Jack Lisowski v Xiao Guodong 3-6

Gary Wilson v Mark Selby 6-3

Jiang Jun v Ding Junhui 3-6

Barry Hawkins v Kyren Wilson 2-6

Round Three - Best of eleven frames:

Zhang Anda v Lyu Haotian 1-6

Matthew Stevens v John Higgins 1-6

Chris Wakelin v Shaun Murphy 6-3

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Mark Williams 1-6

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Pang Junxu 4-6

Ali Carter v Jackson Page 4-6

Jack Lisowski v Si Jiahui 6-5

Xiao Guodong v Mark Allen 6-2

Judd Trump v Joe O'Connor 6-4

Xu Si v Ryan Day 6-2 (Xu Si achieved a maximum 147 break in the sixth frame)

Robbie Williams v Gary Wilson 5-6

Noppon Saengkham v Mark Selby 3-6

Jiang Jun v Yuan Sijun 6-4

Ding Junhui v Hossein Vafaei 6-0

Barry Hawkins v Neil Robertson 6-1

 Wu Yize v Kyren Wilson 4-6

Round Two - Best of eleven frames:

Zhang Anda v David Grace 6-3

Haydon Pinhey v Lyu Haotian 4-6

Simon Blackwell v Matthew Stevens 5-6

John Higgins v Ben Woollaston 6-4

Chris Wakelin w/o Zak Surety

Shaun Murphy w/o Anthony Hamilton

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Stuart Bingham 6-0

Mark Williams w/o Mark Davis

Ronnie O'Sullivan v He Guoqiang 6-2

Pang Junxu v Elliot Slessor 6-5

Ali Carter v Ross Muir

David Gilbert v Jackson Page 4-6

Gong Chenzhi v Jack Liswoski 5-6

Ben Mertens v Si Jiahui 3-6

Ricky Walden v Xiao Guodong 0-6

Aaron Hill v Mark Allen 2-6

Judd Trump v Sanderson Lam 6-0

Joe O'Connor v Anthony McGill 6-1

Stan Moody v Xu Si 5-6 

Ryan Day v Daniel Womersley 6-3

Robbie Williams v Stuart Carrington 6-3

Dean Young v Gary Wilson 4-6

Jimmy Robertson v Noppon Saengkham 1-6

Jamie Clarke v Mark Selby 4-6

Jiang Jung v Amir Sarkhosh 6-5

Michael Holt v Yuan Sijun 4-6

Ding Junhui v Martin O'Donnell 6-1

Hossein Vafaei v Dylan Emery 6-1

Joe Perry v Barry Hawkins 2-6

Fan Zhengyi v Neil Robertson 0-6

Andrew Higginson v Wu Yize 3-6

Liu Hongyu v Kyren Wilson 3-6

Some of the qualifiers for the top seeds have been held over to the main venue:

Qualifying Round One in Nanjing. Best of eleven frames:

David Grace v Zhou Jinhao 6-2

Si Jiahui v Andrew Pagett 6-4

Hossein Vafaei v Zheng Dian 6-4

Kyren Wilson v Mitchell Mann 6-0

Ali Carter v Cai Wei 6-1

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mink Nutcharut 6-3

Noppon Saengkham v Wang Xinbo 6-3

Ding Junhui v Reanne Evans 6-0

Zhang Anda v Ishpreet Singh Chadha 6-5

Some of the highest seeds to not make it through UK qualifying were:

  • Luca Brecel (7)
  • Tom Ford (14)
  • Jak Jones (16)
  • Robert Milkins (22)
  • Stephen Maguire (32)

The previous winners and runners-up from the International Championship are detailed below:

Year
Winner
Runner-up
Final Score
Venue
2024
Ding Junhui
Chris Wakelin
10-7
Nanjing, China
2023
Zhang Anda
Tom Ford
10-6
Tianjin, China
2019
Judd Trump
Shaun Murphy
10-3
Daqing, China
2018
Mark Allen
Neil Robertson
10-5
Daqing, China
2017
Mark Selby
Mark Allen
10-7
Daqing, China
2016
Mark Selby
Ding Junhui
10-1
Daqing, China
2015
John Higgins
David Gilbert
10-5
Daqing, China
2014
Ricky Walden
Mark Allen
10-7
Chengdu, China
2013
Ding Junhui
Marco Fu
10-9
Chengdu, China
2012
Judd Trump
Neil Robertson
10-8
Chengdu, China

If you are interested in betting on the International Championship you will want to make sure you use the best bookmaker for snooker betting. OLBG have analysed all the top bookies, their offers and coverage of snooker.

International Championship 2024: Prizemoney

The prize money on offer for the 2023 International Championship is as follows:

  • Winner: £175,000
  • Runner-up: £75,000
  • Semi-final: £33,000
  • Quarter-final: £22,000
  • Last sixteen: £14,000
  • Last thirty-two: £9,000
  • Last sixty-four: £5,000
  • Highest break: £5000 


If you need more information for your snooker bets why not head over to the Best Snooker Tipsters page to see which of the top OLBG tipsters currently have tips on snooker. The higlighted tipsters have shown a recent profit for their snooker tips.

2024 International Championship: Final Preview

Ding Junhui takes on Chris Wakelin in the 2024 final of the International Championship.

Both finalists have gruelling semi-finals to overcome but who will lift the International Championship trophy for 2024?

Ding Junhui: Final Stats

Route to the final:

  • Semi-final 9-6 Xu Si
  • Quarter-final 6-4 Kyren Wilson
  • Round 4 Jiang Jun 6-3
  • Round 3 Hossein Vafaei 6-0
  • Round 2 Martin O'Donnell 6-1
  • Qualifying Round 1 Reanne Evans 6-0

Ranking Event wins: Fourteen (from twenty-three finals)

Major non-ranking event wins: One (Masters 2011) 

Last Ranking Event Victory: 4 years 11 months ago - 2019 UK Championship (3 defeats in ranking event finals since that win)

Best Performance in 24/25 season before this event: QF Shanghai Masters

Record in 24/25 season: Played 15, Won 10, Lost 5. (including a 5-3 defeat by Wakelin in the Wuhan Open) 66% winning match record this season

Centuries in 24/25 season: 12

Frames Played in 24/25: Played 125, won 77 (62%), lost 48 (38%)

Chris Wakelin: Final Stats

Route to the final:

  • Semi-final 9-8 Xiao Guodong
  • Quarter-final 6-5 John Higgins
  • Round 4 6-4 Mark Williams 
  • Round 3 6-3 Shaun Murphy
  • Round 2 w/o Zak Surety
  • Qualifying Round 1 6-2 Cheung Ka Wai

Ranking Event wins: One (from two finals)

Major non-ranking event wins: None

Last Ranking Event Victory: 1 year eight months ago - 2023 Shootout

Best Performance in 24/25 season before this event: SF English Open

Record in 24/25 season: Played 32, Won 22 (69%), Lost 9 (28%), Drawn 1

Centuries in 24/25 season: 12

Frames Played in 24/25: Played 214, Won 125 (58%), Lost 89 (42%)

Preview:

If the semi-finals are anything to go by, then this final will be extremely tense. On Friday, Chris Wakelin was 8-5 up against Xiao Guodong but lost three very nervous frames to allow the match to go to a final frame decider. A good break of 62 in that last frame allowed Wakelin to get over the line but you would be hard pushed to say it was impressive.

On Saturday, local crowd-favourite Ding Junhui looked in trouble when his compatriot Xu Si raced into a 3-0 and 5-2 lead in the second semi-final. Ding managed to win the final frame of the first session to limit the damage to 5-3 in what now looks a crucial turning point in that semi-final. When Xu Si came back out for the second session he looked a shadow of the player who had compiled two centuries in the first session and lost the first three frames of the evening session to be 6-5 behind. Xu steadied the ship by winning the twelfth frame but the majority of the final session was littered with errors from the young player. It looked as if the occasion of playing Ding in a home semi-final overwhelmed Xu who had wowed fans by making a 147 earlier in the week and by defeating world number one, Judd Trump. Ding won seven of the last eight frames to make the final but it wouldn't be stretching events to say he was flattered by the final outcome. Ding hasn't won a ranking event for nearly five years and, at times, his frustration with the level of his own play was distinctly evident.

Chris Wakelin's semi-final win sees him enter the top 16 and gives him a very real chance of playing in the Masters after Xmas. It could just be that winning that crucial last frame against Xiao Guodong will shore up Wakelin's belief in himself to win the matches that really matter. The bookies understandably make Ding the favourite to win this final but I'm firmly convinced his task to get to this stage was enhanced significantly by Xu Si's collapse in their semi. Ding will obviously be the crowd's favourite to win yet another title but this could work in Wakelin's favour as the crowd will most likely not be expecting him to win. He has defeated three former world champions to get to the final here and has already made another quarter-final and semi-final this season whereas Ding has played a very light season up to now and this run is somewhat out of character. 

6/4 about Wakelin looks an attractive price especially given he has had a full day to recover from his semi-final and I feel he can take the title and make Ding wait even longer to return to lifting a trophy.

International Championship 2023: Results

Final - best of nineteen frames

Zhang Anda 10 Tom Ford 6

Zhang Anda won his first ranking event and achieved a 147 in the Final as well. He becomes the first player since Judd Trump in the 2022 Turkish Masters to make a 147 in an event and take the title. The thirty-one year old has been a professional since 2009.

A massive result for the bookmakers with pre-tournament 150/1 shot Zhang beating 80/1 shot Tom Ford in the Final.

Semi-Finals - best of seventeen frames

Tom Ford 9 Jordan Brown 6

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Zhang Anda 9

Quarter-Finals - best of eleven frames

Jordan Brown 6 Stephen Maguire 5

Tom Ford 6 Barry Hawkins 4

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Ali Carter 4

Zhang Anda 6 Ding Junhui 3

Round Four - best of eleven frames

Stephen Maguire 6 Ryan Day 4

Jordan Brown 6 John Higgins 3

Tom Ford 6 Mark Selby 3

Barry Hawkins 6 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Anthony McGill 2

Ali Carter 6 Daniel Wells 1

Zhang Anda 6 Lyu Haotian 3

Ding Junhui 6 Pang Junxu 2

Round Three - best of eleven frames

Stephen Maguire 6 Judd Trump 3

Ryan Day 6 Ross Muir 1

John Higgins 6 Dylan Emery 1

Jordan Brown 6 Kyren WIlson 4

Mark Selby 6 Xiao Guodong 2

Tom Ford 6 Marco Fu 3

Barry Hawkins 6 Ricky Walden 4

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6 Mark Allen 3

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Jak Jones 4

Anthony McGill 6 Jack Lisowski 2

Ali Carter 6 Stuart Bingham 4

Daniel Wells 6 Zhou Yuelong 1

Lyu Haotian 6 Dominic Dale 3

Zhang Anda 6 Liam Pullen 3

Ding Junhui 6 Gary Wilson 5

Round Two draw - best of eleven frames 

Matches to be played on 5th and 6th of November

Judd Trump 6 Michael White 0

Stephen Maguire 6 Joe O'Connor 4

Ryan Day 6 Jackson Page 5

Hossein Vafaei 5 Ross Muir 6

Wang Xinbo 4 Dylan Emery6

John Higgins 6 David Grace 1

Jordan Brown 6 David Gilbert 3

Kyren Wilson 6 Elliot Slessor 2

Mark Selby 6 Stuart Carrington 2

Jimmy Robertson 3 Xiao Guodong 6

Marco Fu 6 Sanderson Lam 0

Tom Ford 6 Cao Yupeng 0

Ricky Walden 6 Jamie Jones 3

Barry Hawkins 6 Tian Pengfei 0

Matt Selt 5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6

Mark Allen 6 Oliver Lines 3

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Mark Joyce 3

Si Jiahui 4 Jak Jones 6

Jack Lisowski 6 Scott Donaldson 4

Anthony McGill 6 Sam Craigie 3

Stuart Bingham 6 Matthew Stevens 5

Ali Carter 6 John Astley 5

Anthony Hamilton 0 Zhou Yuelong 6

Neil Robertson 1 Daniel Wells 6

Shaun Murphy 3 Dominic Dale 6

Chris Wakelin 1 Lyu Haotian 6

Mark Williams 3 Zhang Anda 6

Noppon Saengkham 5 Liam Pullen 6

Gary Wilson 6 Robbie Williams 4

Ding Junhui 6 Long Zehuang 4

Pang Junxu 6 Fan Zhengyi 5

Luca Brecel 3 Mark Davis 6

If you need some help with who to back in The International Championship, why not check out who OLBG's snooker tipsters are tipping

Other Snooker Articles on OLBG

New to betting on snooker? Why not head over to our betting school where you can find a great aticle on Snooker Betting Advice.

Contributor Information

We are fortunate to have two snooker obsessed staff members at OLBG in Tipster Competition manager Darren Brett and our Editor-In-Chief Steve Madgwick, working together with Dan Tracey our data man, we are proud to provide this International Championship Snooker Betting Tips and Preview article and all major snooker events throughout the year.

Darren Brett

Snooker Tips and Content Manager

As the manager of our tipster competition and all the players, Darren brings his passion for snooker to the forefront of his role. His expert knowledge of the game makes him the ideal person to nurture our network of snooker tipsters. Darren is also responsible for all of our snooker content and event updates, meticulously verifying every detail for accuracy before they go live. Darren is truly our ace in the pocket.

- Darren Brett, Tipster Competition Manager

Dan Tracey

Snooker Stats on Hand

While snooker might not hold the title as Dan's premiere passion, when it comes to crunching numbers, he is indisputably our mastermind. Harnessing the power of raw data, Dan meticulously compiles results, statistics, and insights, enabling him to unearth unique perspectives. This extensive groundwork lays the foundation for our team to craft high-quality snooker event previews and premium content. With Dan on our team, our snooker coverage is always on cue!

- Dan Tracey, Data Scientist and Football Editor

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