Long Zehuang marked his main World Snooker Tour debut by topping Group 7 of the BetVictor Championship League Snooker – Ranking Edition at the Morningside Arena, Leicester live on Viaplay Xtra in the UK, and with broadcasters worldwide including Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland and the Netherlands and Table 2 live on Matchroom.Live globally.
Coming through the CBSA China Tour, Long settled into life on tour like a duck to water with victory over the five-time ranking event Ali Carter having started out with a draw against Jackson Page who was also hopeful of progression from the group. Page’s second match saw him secure three points against Ryan Davies meaning he had to beat Carter 3-0 in his final match to overcome Long’s three-point advantage with the 26-year-old taking down Davies 3-0 in his last contest to end the day with seven points.
Carter struggled for form in his opening two matches only collecting one point along the way but still had a large parter to play in how the group closed up with the Captain trailing page 2-0 early on with the target three for victory. A break of 68 got Carter back in for 2-1 and it was curtains for Page’s hopes from there as things tied up for 2-2 thanks to a closing 86 from the former who finished up third in the group.
Group 24 promised to deliver plenty live on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel with the likes of Pang Junxu, Wu Yize, Stan Moody, and Hammad Miah all vying for a spot in Winners’ Week.
Pang stepped up in his opening match to quickly dispatch Moody 3-0 and he continued on that trajectory to get his second win of the day against Miah for six points setting up a group decider with compatriot Wu to close out the evening session. Wu was the closest competitor to Pang in the group after an opening draw with Miah. The 2021/22 Rookie of the Year then got the better of Moody 3-1 meaning only a victory would see him leapfrog Pang at the top of the group. Pang ended the day with three wins from three with victory sealed with the second frame over Wu on the final black enough to see him over the line but he wasn’t done there with a final 71 to complete a perfect day at the office.
Robert Milkins enters in Group 8 tomorrow alongside Dominic Dale, Muhammad Asif, and Alex Taubman whilst Fan Zhengyi, Sam Craigie, Fergal O’Brien, and Ahmed Elsayed line-up in Group 23.
The BetVictor Championship League Snooker – Ranking Edition carries a first prize of £33,000. Ali Carter, Robert Milkins and World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui enter the fray in the coming days while former world champions Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, and Shaun Murphy are all due to play next week, with the event concluding on July 21.
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