Last night, the snooker Championship (King of Kings) Invitational Draw Ceremony was held, which will be held on November 15-21 at the University of Bolton Hotel in the United Kingdom.
The 16 players were all remarkable players who performed well last season and won in various competitions, O'Sullivan, Maguire and Ding Junhui won the opportunity to participate in the world ranking, and the defending champion Mark Allen withdrew from the competition for personal reasons, so Ding Junhui was re-qualified.
The 16 players were divided into four groups of four players in each group.
Group 1: Trump vs David Leary, Maguire vs Ryan Day
Group 2: Selby vs Gilbert, Murphy vs. Yan Bingtao
Group 3: O'Sullivan vs Bingham, Higgins vs Ding Junhui
Group Four: Robertson vs Mark Williams, Wilson vs Jordan Brown
From 15 to 18 November, four groups will be played, with four wins in the first round of seven innings and six wins in the second round of 11 innings, with the four groups advancing to the semi-finals first. The total prize money for the competition is £440,000, of which the winner will receive a prize of £150,000.
The draw for the tournament was based on the world rankings after the Northern Ireland Open, with the world's top eight seeded players, the world's no. 1 Trump and the eighth Maguire in the first group, the world champion Selby and the world's seventh Murphy in the second group, the world's third O'Sullivan and Higgins in the third group, Robertson and Wilson in the fourth group, the remaining 8 players were randomly divided into four groups, Ding Junhui entered the group of O'Sullivan, Bingham and Higgins, and Yan Bingtao entered Selby. Gilbert and Murphy are in this group.
On November 15, next Monday, the first group will be played. Trump, the 22-ranked champion, will face elder World Champion David Leary and Maguire will face single-time limit winner Ryan Day. The winners of the two games will play a semi-final of 6 wins in 11 sets on the day, with the winner advancing to the final four.
On November 16, next Tuesday, the fourth group of matches began. Two-time Champions Robertson faces this season's British Open champion Mark Williams. Robertson just won the Snooker England championship last Sunday, and Mark Williams has not played in the new crown for a long time, and this game is also a wonderful left-handed dialogue. Wilson and Jordan Brown will also have a conversation.
On November 17, the third group will be played next Wednesday. Four-time World Champion Selby played against Gilbert, who won the ranking tournament for the first time in his career, and World Championship runner-up Murphy played against St. Co., Ltd. Masters champion Yan Bingtao.
On November 18, next Thursday, the third group will be played. 37-time ranking champion O'Sullivan will face World Championship and Masters champion Bingham, while Ding Junhui will face 31-time ranking champion Higgins. Ding Junhui and Higgins met at last week's English Open. Higgins has recently felt good, reaching the finals of the Northern Ireland Open and the English Open, although he lost to Allen and Robertson respectively, but considering that he can still perform like this at the age of 46, it is really valuable. This group is also a group with a lot to watch, and whether O'Sullivan and Higgins can stage their 74th meeting with each other is also a big attraction.
On 19 and 20 November, the semi-finals will be contested in the format of 6 wins in 11 innings. The final will be held on the 21st with a format of 10 wins in 19 innings.
On the 8th, World Snooker also announced the latest ranking after the English Open and the latest ranking of the single season, and rose directly to the third place with the single-season ranking of Robertson, the champion of the English Championship. Ding Junhui also rose to 67th place in a single season with 7500 pounds. In the single-season rankings, Mark Williams is ranked first with £109,500 and Allen is second with 96,000. The single-season points settlement point will be after the Scottish Open, before which there will be the British Championship. The top 32 players in the single season will qualify for the Grand Prix, which will be held in Coventry from 13 to 19 December.
In the current world rankings, Selby is ranked first with £1,102,500, Trump is second with £989,000, O'Sullivan is third with £854,000 and Ding Junhui is tenth with £324,500.