Good morning from the Cueball Talk desk. Doha is done, the Heathrow medals are counted, and the weekend now belongs to Gandia and Nanjing. But the story that got the snooker world talking last night came from much further down the calendar: Ronnie O'Sullivan is going back on the World Seniors Snooker Tour.
The Rocket heads for Derby
O'Sullivan has confirmed he will play the British Seniors Open at Vaillant Live in Derby on 27–28 December, per Metro. It is his first Seniors outing since May, when he won the World Seniors Championship at the Crucible on his debut on the over-40s circuit, beating Joe Perry 10–4 in the final.
Perry is the defending champion in Derby, but the field is getting stronger by the week:
- Former UK champion Stephen Maguire has signed up.
- Jimmy White and Ken Doherty, both Seniors regulars, are in.
- Reanne Evans, a 12-time women's world champion, and former Seniors champion Mark Davis are also in the field.
- One place in the eight-player draw is still to be filled.
World Seniors chairman Jason Francis pointed to last year's return of snooker to the city, which he said drew more than 4 million viewers on Channel 5. Before Derby, the 50-year-old, still world No. 13, is due at the Champion of Champions in Leicester, a place he earned with that Seniors title, and then the UK Championship in York. He is not in the Nanjing field.
Nanjing: the International Championship breaks off overnight
The eighth ranking event of the season starts at the SNC National Fitness Center in the early hours of Saturday, UK time. It runs until the best-of-19 final on Saturday 7 November, with £175,000 to the winner. Per the published draw, Saturday's sessions (all times GMT) are:
- 01:30 — Jimmy White v Mark Selby, Zhou Yuelong v Liam Davies, Liu Hongyu v Louis Heathcote, plus the held-over qualifiers Szubarczyk v Chen Qi'en, Liu Wenwei v Dong Zihao and Hallworth v Li Jun.
- 06:00 — Ding Junhui v Sahil Nayyar (held over), Neil Robertson v Jiang Jun, Ryan Day v Lei Peifan, Ben Woollaston v Yao Pengcheng, Stuart Carrington v Hossein Vafaei, Pang Junxu v Wang Xinzhong.
- 11:30 — Defending champion Wu Yize v Hammad Miah, world No. 1 Zhao Xintong v Ian Burns, Judd Trump v Liu Wenwei or Dong Zihao, Jak Jones v Wang Xinbo, David Grace v Si Jiahui, Jackson Page v Szubarczyk or Chen.
Gandia: Doha's semi-finalists finally break off
The last Predator Euro Tour stop of 2026, the Revora Spanish Open, enters its second day. Men's play resumes at 08:00 GMT on both sides of the double-elimination draw. Wojciech Szewczyk, who leads the men's Euro Tour standings, meets Germany's Niklas Dohr this afternoon, and Daniel Macioł faces Syria's Delmon Khwaja. Both were given late starts after reaching the Doha semi-finals.
Thursday's highlights, per the EPBF and BilliardNews:
- Home favourite David Alcaide went 2–0, beating David Prieto 9–0 and Dominik Regieli 9–4. Next up for him is Raul Martin Muela on the winners' side.
- Francisco Sánchez Ruiz beat Maj Badovinac 9–4 and plays Radosław Babica today.
- Oliver Szolnoki beat Pascal Enfroy 9–5, then survived 9–8 against Maks Benko after a late miss from the Slovenian. "I haven't been home since 24th July," the Hungarian said.
- Konrad Juszczyszyn flew in overnight from Qatar, beat Matouš Vlk 9–3 and then edged Tobias Bongers 9–8. "I didn't sleep at night because I was on the plane," he said.
- Former world junior champion Yannick Pongers lost to Babica but stayed alive on the one-loss side by beating Marcin Kwiecień.
Heathrow: Malta's men take bronze
Last night we were still waiting on the Men's A team result. We now know Malta were not in the final. The Times of Malta and Malta Sport report that Malta's Men's A team, through to the semi-finals after a 13–6 win over South Africa, finished third by beating Wales 13–3 in the bronze-medal match. Their semi-final had been scheduled against England A. That bronze, plus a second from the U18 team's 8–1 win over England, gave Malta six medals at the championships (four silver, two bronze), their best-ever result.
We still have not seen a confirmed result for the Men's A final itself, and we'll bring it as soon as it is published.
Doha footnote
Philippine outlet Spin PH reports that runner-up Albert James Manas, 19, took home US$40,000 behind Joshua Filler. It was the biggest result of his career and a strong rebound after a tough Reyes Cup and an early exit at the Philippines Open.
Around the halls
- Pan American Snooker Championships — The Seniors event starts tomorrow (31 Oct to 3 Nov) at the Mampituba Country Club in Criciúma, Brazil, and the Open follows from 4 to 8 November. Per PABSA, the Open winner earns a two-year WST card from 2027–28, and the Seniors winner goes to the 2027 World Seniors at the Crucible.
- USA — AZBilliards reports first regional-tour wins for Ashley Julian, who came from the loss side to beat Iris Wang at the NWPA's 25th-anniversary season finale at Ox Billiards in Seattle, and for Kevin Kiely, who beat Jamie Bogan in the final of the 64-entrant Iron Table Tour stop in Branford, Connecticut.
- Indore — The IBSF World Snooker Championships (men and women) run from 12 to 21 November at the Yeshwant Club. Qualifying starts on 13 November, and the main draws start on 17 November.
Where to watch this weekend
- International Championship, Nanjing — TNT Sports and HBO Max in the UK and Ireland, Eurosport and HBO Max in mainland Europe, and WST Play in territories without a broadcaster. Sessions at 01:30, 06:00 and 11:30 GMT from Saturday.
- Revora Spanish Open, Gandia — Tables 1, 2 and 3 are live on the Pro Billiard TV YouTube channel. Live scoring and draws are on the EPBF site. Men's and women's finals are on Sunday at 19:00 GMT.
Got a local result, league final or club story from this weekend? Drop it in the thread below.
Sources: Metro (Phil Haigh), SnookerHQ, Snooker Org results database, EPBF, AZBilliards, BilliardNews, Times of Malta, Malta Sport, Spin PH, PABSA, IBSF.
Feature image: “Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Merseyside Masters 2022” by Pete, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0.
