Race To The Ricoh – Champion of Champions Latest

With just six weeks to go until snooker’s prestigious Champion of Champions, the field for the tournament at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry is shaping up.

The event will run from November 7 to 12, televised by ITV4, and brings together an elite field of players who have won titles over the previous year.

Already assured of a place among the 16 man line-up are defending champion Neil Robertson, crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan, World Champion Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen, Ali Carter, Martin Gould, Anthony McGill and Marco Fu.

And they are now joined by Finland’s Robin Hull, last season’s Shoot Out champion, whose place was guaranteed when Ding won last week’s Shanghai Masters, as the Chinese ace had already booked his place in the Champion of Champions.

There are four more tournaments to go before the top stars head to Coventry. Any player, not already qualified, who wins the European Masters, English Open, International Championship or China Championship will earn a spot in the field at the Ricoh.

One more repeat winner will mean that Mark Davis, the World Seniors Champion, will be guaranteed a place in Coventry. Any further repeat winners will mean that the field will be completed by players from the one-year ranking list. The current top five on that list are:

1. Joe Perry £41,050
2. Michael Holt £38,150
3. Stuart Bingham £34,775
4. Stephen Maguire £32,500
5. Kyren Wilson £32,025

The tournament, which boasts a top prize of £100,000, will start with a quartet of four-man groups, with the winner of each group to progress to the semi-finals. The final on Saturday, November 12 will be over 19 frames.

Tickets are on sale now at www.championofchampionssnooker.co.uk.

2016 Champion of Champions Qualification List

1 Champion of Champions (Nov 2015) Neil Robertson
2 UK Championship (Dec 2015) Neil Robertson
3 The Masters (Jan 2016) Ronnie O’Sullivan
4 German Masters (Feb 2016) Martin Gould
5 Welsh Open (Feb 2016) Ronnie O’Sullivan
6 Championship League (Mar 2016) Judd Trump
7 World Grand Prix (Mar 2016) Shaun Murphy
8 Players Championship (Mar 2016) Mark Allen
9 China Open (Apr 2016) Judd Trump
10 World Championship (May 2016) Mark Selby
11 Indian Open (July 2016) Anthony McGill
12 World Open (July 2016) Ali Carter
13 Shanghai Masters (Sep 2016) Ding Junhui
14 European Masters (Oct 2016)
15 English Open (Oct 2016)
16 International Championship (Oct 2016)
17 China Championship (Nov 2016)

18 Gibraltar Open (Dec 2015) Marco Fu
19 Gdynia Open (Feb 2016) Mark Selby
20 Riga Open (June 2016) Neil Robertson
21 Paul Hunter Classic (Aug 2016) Mark Selby
22 World Championship runner-up (May 2016) Ding Junhui

23 Snooker Shoot Out (Feb 2016) Robin Hull
24 Six Red World Championship (Sep 2016) Ding Junhui
25 World Seniors (Jan 2016) Mark Davis