Saturday lunchtime, 31 October 2026 — Afternoon from the Cueball Talk desk. Hossein Vafaei has produced the best performance of the week so far in Nanjing. He didn't drop a frame against Stuart Carrington and made a break of 69 or more in every one. Ding Junhui survived a scare on home soil. In Gandia, Pia Filler is into the women's last 16, and the men's last 32 is well under way, with David Alcaide locked in a tight one.
SNOOKER — INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, NANJING
Vafaei's 629 points to 49
Vafaei beat Carrington 6–0, and if anything the scoreline undersells how one-sided it was. The Iranian made breaks of 126 and 114, plus a 96, two 70s and a 69. He outscored Carrington 629 to 49 across the six frames. Carrington never had a frame with more than 29 points. Vafaei's reward is a last-32 meeting with Mark Selby, who beat Jimmy White overnight.
Ding comes through a 6–4 fight
Ding was 1–2 down to India's Sahil Nayyar when we checked first thing, and it stayed close for a while. It was level at 3–3 before Ding took three of the last four frames to win 6–4. He made 102, 78 and 51, and his 51 came in the deciding tenth frame. Nayyar made a century of his own. Ding plays Gao Yang in the last 64 on Sunday at 06:00 GMT.
The rest of the morning session
- Neil Robertson 6–2 Jiang Jun. He was 3–1 up when we checked this morning, helped by a 133 total clearance. His next opponent is Jak Jones or Wang Xinbo.
- Ryan Day 6–4 Lei Peifan. Day will play Kyren Wilson or Liam Highfield.
- Ben Woollaston 6–5 Yao Pengcheng, which went to a decider. Woollaston plays Oliver Lines or Dylan Emery next.
- Pang Junxu 6–4 Wang Xinzhong in a held-over qualifier. Pang meets Mina Awad on Sunday at 11:30 GMT.
On the tables now (about 12:15 GMT)
The 11:30 session is only a few frames old. Jak Jones, who is defending 16th place in the race for York, leads Wang Xinbo 1–0. Zhao Xintong leads Ian Burns 2–1, and Wu Yize, the defending champion, is 2–0 up on Hammad Miah. Judd Trump leads Liu Wenwei 1–0, Jackson Page is 2–0 up on Michal Szubarczyk, and Si Jiahui leads David Grace 1–0. Results tonight.
GANDIA — SPANISH WOMEN'S OPEN
Filler sees off Zalewska
Pia Filler beat Oliwia Zalewska 7–5 in the winners' qualification round and goes straight into tonight's last 16. Marion Jude also got through, beating Jiang Teng 7–5. Three others went hill-hill.
- Pia Filler 7–5 Oliwia Zalewska
- Marion Jude 7–5 Jiang Teng
- Ina Kaplan 7–3 Miriam Steiner
- Silvia López Fibla 7–5 Monika Zabek
- Daria Siranchuk 7–6 Kamila Khodjaeva
- Maria-Teresa Ropero 7–6 Ana Gradišnik
- Sandra Baumgartner 7–6 Jolien Schuurman
- Linnéa Hjalmarström 7–2 Oktawia Brodecka
GANDIA — SPANISH OPEN (PREDATOR EURO TOUR, 9-BALL)
The losers' qualification
The second-chance round this morning filled the last 16 places in the last 32. Mateusz Śniegocki and Jonas Souto both won 9–8, and Mieszko Fortunski beat Mykola Moroz 9–0. Also through were Iker Andoni Echeverria, Hubert Lopotko, Szymon Kural, Roman Hybler, Ramazan Dincer, Mika van Berkel, Marc Bijsterbosch, Dmytro Skorokhodov, Yannick Pongers, Dzmitry Hryb, Kristián Mrva, Alvaro Lamapereira Lage and Gabriel Aspholm.
Last 32: the early finishers
- Wiktor Zielinski 11–5 Alvaro Lamapereira Lage
- Iker Andoni Echeverria 11–4 Ivica Putnik
- Mieszko Fortunski 11–6 Sambor Stachowiak
- Eric Mattern 11–8 Dzmitry Hryb
- Mika van Berkel 11–6 Jaroslav Polách
- Fabio Rizzi 11–3 Dmytro Skorokhodov
- Francisco Sánchez Ruiz goes through against Marc Bijsterbosch. The EPBF page records the match as a forfeit by Bijsterbosch but doesn't give a reason.
Still going (about 12:20 GMT)
Wojciech Szewczyk leads Jonas Souto 9–6 and needs two more racks. Alcaide and Śniegocki are level at 8–8. Daniel Macioł, who won 27 of 31 racks on his way through qualifying, trails Gabriel Aspholm 6–8. Defending champion Oliver Szolnoki has work to do at 2–6 down to Roman Hybler. Tomasz Kaplan and Yannick Pongers are level at 9–9, Kristián Mrva leads Emil-Andre Gangfløt 10–7, and Hubert Lopotko is 9–7 up on Luca Menn.
ELSEWHERE
- New WCBS president: Qatar's Mubarak Al Khayarin, who already leads the IBSF, has been elected president of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports by acclamation for 2026 to 2030. The vote took place at the general assembly in Doha on Friday, according to the Qatar News Agency. He says his priorities are moving the confederation's headquarters from Switzerland to Doha and getting cue sports into the Olympic programme, starting with the 2036 Games. Egypt's Farouk El Barki and Guatemala's Fernanda Rivera are the vice-presidents.
- Coming soon: The UMB three-cushion World Cup in Yanggu starts on Monday. The second Pan-American Heyball Open in Arequipa, Peru begins on Tuesday, and the IBSF World Championships in Indore open on 12 November.
Coming up (all times GMT)
- Now — Gandia men's last 32 (race to 11) and women's losers' round three
- 14:00 — Gandia women's losers' qualification
- 18:00 — Gandia women's last 16, race to 9, including Filler, Jude, Kaplan and López Fibla
- 20:00 — Gandia men's last 16, including Zielinski, Echeverria, Fortunski, Mattern v van Berkel and Rizzi
- Sunday 01:30 — Nanjing: John Higgins v Lyu Haotian, Mark Williams v Ishpreet Singh Chadha, Stuart Bingham v Marco Fu, Zhang Anda v Huang Jiahao
- Sunday 06:00 — Nanjing: Ding Junhui v Gao Yang, Kyren Wilson v Liam Highfield, Stephen Maguire v Page or Szubarczyk
- Sunday 09:00 — Gandia quarter-finals, men's and women's. Both finals are at 19:00 GMT on Sunday.
Where to watch: In Gandia, tables 1–3 are streamed on Pro Billiard TV on YouTube, and full scores are on the EPBF draw and results pages. In the UK, Nanjing is on TNT Sports and HBO Max. Elsewhere it's on Eurosport, WST Play and Huya.
Gandia scores were taken from the EPBF draw and results pages at about 12:20 GMT. Nanjing scores marked as in play were unfinished when we checked.
Sources: Snooker Org results service, CueTracker (Nanjing frame scores), EPBF draw and results (men's and women's Spanish Open), Qatar News Agency.
Feature image: “Hossein Vafaei at the 2023 Masters” by BennyOnTheLoose, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
