Last week’s Welsh Open in Llandudno provided the final opportunity for players to secure a spot in the 2025 World Grand Prix snooker draw.
Only the top 32 players on the one-year rankings list qualify for the lucrative ranking event, which will be moving to Hong Kong for the first time this year.
For the last number of campaigns, the World Grand Prix has been the first tournament in a series of three where the draws comprise players from the one-year rankings.
As the subsequent Players and Tour Championships boast only 16 and 12-player fields respectively, the World Grand Prix has tended to carry the weakest status in terms of prestige.
But there’s a somewhat strange scenario this season whereby the champion in Hong Kong will actually receive more than the winner of the other two events.
A hefty sum worth £180,000 will be on offer for the competitor who emerges with the World Grand Prix crown in 2025.
That eclipses the £150,000 that will be awarded to the champion at both the Players Championship in Telford and the Tour Championship in Manchester.
With 4,000 fans expected at the Kai Tak Sports Park, the World Grand Prix has certainly become a fixture on the calendar that nobody wants to miss.
The majority of the top 16 players from the official two-year rankings had already safeguarded their tickets to Hong Kong prior to the Welsh Open.
Gary Wilson was the reigning champion at the Venue Cymru but was upset in the first round, putting his World Grand Prix hopes in jeopardy.
But the Englishman hung on to the 32nd and final spot on the list, with his reward a meeting with top seed and this season’s money leader Judd Trump.
The highest-profile cueist who didn’t manage to qualify was Luca Brecel.
The Belgian Bullet had been struggling to break inside the top 100 on the one-year list toward the end of 2024, so the fact that he got to within one win of breaking into the top 32 was impressive.
Brecel would have been in the lineup had he beaten Mark Selby in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open, but he ultimately came up just short.
Hossein Vafaei, meanwhile, was the unfortunate player who finished in 33rd position – the Iranian left to rue an early exit in the last 32 in Wales.
Vafaei would presumably be the next in line to take up a slot in the World Grand Prix draw should one of the other contenders pull out.
The 30 year-old will perhaps then be hoping Ronnie O’Sullivan continues his recent trend of withdrawing from tournaments on the snooker schedule.
Despite having not played in a ranking event since suffering defeat in the first round of the UK Championship, the Rocket had already still done enough to feature in the top 32.
If O’Sullivan has aspirations of competing at the Players and Tour Championships, though, his participation in the upcoming World Open and the ensuing World Grand Prix will be a must.
The Englishman is, in fact, the reigning World Grand Prix champion and is due to begin his defence against Si Jiahui in a mouthwatering clash as things stand.
Elsewhere, reigning world champion Kyren Wilson will encounter Matthew Selt while Welsh Open winner Mark Selby will meet Jackson Page.
Stephen Maguire, whose run to the final last week helped him to seal qualification, will face old foe Shaun Murphy in a blockbuster first-round battle.
The 2025 World Grand Prix will take place from March 4th to March 9th, with the full first-round draw below.
2025 World Grand Prix draw
Round of 32 (bo7)
Judd Trump (1) vs Gary Wilson (32)
Jack Lisowski (16) vs Zhang Anda (17)
Si Jiahui (9) vs Ronnie O’Sullivan (24)
Ding Junhui (8) vs Xu Si (25)
Mark Williams (5) vs Stuart Bingham (28)
Wu Yize (12) vs Pang Junxu (21)
Mark Allen (13) vs Jimmy Robertson (20)
Mark Selby (4) vs Jackson Page (29)
Xiao Guodong (3) vs Jak Jones (30)
Lei Peifan (14) vs Elliot Slessor (19)
Chris Wakelin (11) vs David Gilbert (22)
Neil Robertson (6) vs Yuan Sijun (27)
Barry Hawkins (7) vs Tom Ford (26)
Shaun Murphy (10) vs Stephen Maguire (23)
John Higgins (15) vs Ali Carter (18)
Kyren Wilson (2) vs Matthew Selt (31)
Featured photo credit: WST
