Brian Cini, the current local snooker champion, has earned the right to be one of sixteen amateur players taking part in the qualifying round of the UK Championship. He gained this place after finishing as a finalist in the Amateur World Snooker Championship held last February in Saida, Morocco.
The UK Championship is considered the second biggest snooker tournament in the world for professional players, after the World Championship. The qualifying stage, in which Cini will compete, will be held at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan. It starts on Saturday 22 November and ends on Thursday 27 November. Out of the 128 players taking part, the final sixteen will qualify for the main stage of the UK Championship, where they will join the current top 16 professional snooker players.
In the first qualifying round, Cini will play against 24-year-old Welsh player Dylan Emery. Emery began his professional career in the 2022/23 World Snooker Tour season and is currently ranked 91st in the world. Their match will be played on Saturday at 10:30am (local time), and the winner will face the Chinese player Chang Bingyu in the second round. All UK Championship matches, except for the main final, are played as best of 11 frames.
Two days after the qualifying stage ends, the final stage of the UK Championship will begin. It will be played from Saturday 29 November to Sunday 7 December at the Barbican Centre in York, as in previous years.
