After the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) and the World Snooker Tour (WST) officially announced the qualification criteria for this year’s UK Championship, it has been confirmed that Brian Cini is eligible to compete in the qualifying rounds.
Cini earned this opportunity after reaching the final of the World Amateur Championship earlier this year in Saida, Morocco, where he lost to Gao Yang from China.
The qualifying rounds will take place between 22 and 27 November in Wigan. From these rounds, 16 players will qualify to join another 16 professional players who are already placed in the final stage of the tournament. This final stage will be held at the Barbican in York, from 29 November to 7 December.
The UK Championship is one of the most prestigious tournaments in professional snooker, second only to the World Championship. Together with the Masters, these three events form snooker’s Triple Crown.
Eleven players have won all three Triple Crown events in their careers. These include Steve Davis, Terry Griffiths, Alex Higgins, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump. Of these, only Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams managed to win all three in the same season.
Brian Cini, who is the current Maltese snooker champion, had already taken part in the qualifying rounds of the World Championship for professionals last April. There, he lost in the first round to China’s Wang Yuchen at the Crucible in Sheffield.
