Q School Asia-Oceania 2025 open for entry

Announcement here - https://www.wst.tv/news/2025/march/23/a ... ool-2025-/

Four places available through this.

Starts on Tuesday but no published draw yet?

SteveJJ wrote:Starts on Tuesday but no published draw yet?

Draws available here under 'latest topics': http://www.thailandsnooker.org/

From a quick scan of the draw, there are a few ex-pros:

Dropped off this season: Xing Zihao, Tian Pengfei, Ma Hailong, Thor Chuan Leong and Manasawin Phetmalaikul

Others: Peng Yisong, Luo Honghao, Soheil Vahedi, Hamza Akbar, Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and Pankaj Advani

Zhao Jianbo hasn't entered despite his ban having ended but Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon is back after his ban.

stanley_ wrote:

SteveJJ wrote:Starts on Tuesday but no published draw yet?

Draws available here under 'latest topics': http://www.thailandsnooker.org/

From a quick scan of the draw, there are a few ex-pros:

Dropped off this season: Xing Zihao, Tian Pengfei, Ma Hailong, Thor Chuan Leong and Manasawin Phetmalaikul

Others: Peng Yisong, Luo Honghao, Soheil Vahedi, Hamza Akbar, Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon and Pankaj Advani

Zhao Jianbo hasn't entered despite his ban having ended but Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon is back after his ban.

Thanks! Feel a bit sorry for Thanawat that they let him enter this a couple of years back, he won a card only to be told he hadn't served all his ban. They shouldn't have let him enter in the first place. He's done his time now, hopefully paid his fine and will be eligible if he qualifies.

Although this looks the toughest lineup since this Q School started

Slight drop in numbers in comparison with last year but as already said there appears to be higher quality.

Same five countries (China, Thailand, Pakistan, India and Iran) monopolise the entries although only China send more players than last year. Whether events in the greater world lead to a substantial number of withdrawals will be revealed in time.

The glaring omission once again Saudi Arabia who send no players at all. I would have thought that sending a contingent to QSchool would benefit player development more than wildcard entries to WST events - in any case the two approaches are complementary, there is no obligation to choose one and exclude the other.

A few notable absentees from China,
Lan Yuhao, Chen Qiyu and Zhang Yang. I wonder if Lan is a CBSA nomination?
Ehsan Heydari Nezhad from Iran also absent. He was one of the strongest players in previous editions.
And Dhruv Patel from India, who looked good last year.
No Mongolians.
And no Vinnie Calabrese or Ryan Thomerson. I thought they might have a go.

Nevertheless, it's a strong lineup, and any of the following look good to come through:
Ali Gharahgozlou
Liu Yang
Laxman Rawat
Liang Xiaolong
Luo Honghao
Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Peng Yisong
Soheil Vahedi
Thanwat Tirapongpaiboon
Rory Thor
Tian Pengfei
Yu Kiu Chang
Nattanapong Chaikul
Chen Ruifu
Wang Yuhang
Ma Hailong
Xing Zihao
Pankaj Advani

I'd like to see Gharahgozlou, Advani, Tirapongpaiboon, and a surprise player get through

chengdufan wrote:I'd like to see Gharahgozlou, Advani, Tirapongpaiboon, and a surprise player get through

Is my memory right that there has never been any Oceania representation in this?

chengdufan wrote:I'd like to see Gharahgozlou, Advani, Tirapongpaiboon, and a surprise player get through

It could be one of those years where its mostly players who have just fallen off.

Xing Zihao, Tian Pengfei and Ma Hailong were 5th, 6th and 9th on the one year list (not already qualified), so should be the favourites.