The 2022 Snooker Turkish Masters will take place from March 7 to 13, preceded by a qualifying round from February 2 to 6. Just a few days ago, the qualifiers were released, O'Sullivan withdrew again, and Ding Junhui, whose ranking was declining, ushered in a good opportunity for the Jedi to counterattack. However, Chinese players generally have poor luck, and rising star Wu Yize has to challenge world number one Mark Selby.
The Turkish Masters is the focus of the second half of the season, which is crucial for the competition for seeding, and the prize money is relatively generous and attractive. Even so, O'Sullivan retired, and according to him, safety came first, and he only considered playing in England and China. In addition to O'Sullivan, other top players appear in the signing table, including Selby, Trump, Neil Robertson, Higgins and other title-winning favourites.
The Chinese legion will also go all out to qualify, after the single time limit, Ding Junhui's world ranking continues to decline, currently only ranked 30th, he needs good results to improve the ranking, by the way, to improve his morale. In the first round of the qualifiers, Ding Junhui faced his old rival Andrew Padget, as long as he played normally, Ding Junhui should be able to pass the level easily. Judging from his previous performance in the Champions League, Ding Junhui's state is not bad, and I believe he will get better and better.
However, the signing luck of Chinese players is indeed more general, first of all, many Chinese players have encountered the world's top 16 seeded players, such as Wu Yize against Selby, Zhao Jianbo against Stephen Maguire, Chang Bingyu against Mark Allen, Yuan Sijun against Barry Hawkins. Secondly, there were many Chinese derbies in the first round of the qualifiers, such as Liang Wenbo against Zhang Jiankang, Li Xing against Fan Zhengyi, Xiao Guodong against Xu Si, and Lu Ning against Lei Peifan. Maybe after the first round of qualifying, many Chinese players will be eliminated.
Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao are highly anticipated, and Zhao Xintong will face Louis Heatcote in the first round of qualifying, who has won the Best Newcomer of the Year. Yan Bingtao's opponent is Halworth, and normal play should be able to pass the level easily. Youngster Gao Yang, who has withdrawn from the German Masters main tournament, will face Chris Walkering in the first round of the Turkish Masters qualifiers, and if he wins, there is a good chance that he will encounter Trump again in the second round.
In any case, I hope that the Chinese players will go all out, although most of the players have average luck, but as long as they play at the best level, there is hope to create a cold. We also hope that Ding Junhui will find his best form, achieve good results at the Turkish Masters, and strive to significantly improve his world ranking before the World Championships!