Sports Bulletin Report
Sydney (AUS): The 2023 WSF Championships will run from 31 January – 11 February at the Mt Pritchard District and Community Club, known as ‘Mounties’ in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The event will include an open championship and a junior championship, each tournament carrying a World Snooker Tour card for its winner.
One of the biggest international amateur competitions held for many years, the titles were won by China’s Si Jiahui and Ukraine’s Anton Kazakov respectively, with both players earning a two-year World Snooker Tour card from the start of the 2022/23 season.
The inaugural WSF Championships staged in March 2018 were headlined by an all-new mixed gender competition won by China’s Luo Honghao, who alongside runner-up Adam Stefanow from Poland subsequently turned professional for the first time.
Alongside this tournament, the event was also staged alongside the World Women’s Snooker Championship, won for the third time by Ng On Yee, while the first WSF Seniors Championship saw Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo defeat Darren Morgan to emerge victorious.
In 2020, the WSF returned to Malta with the WSF Open and the new WSF Junior Open competition. For the first time these tournaments were staged as entirely open events, with players of any gender or nationality welcomed to compete.
The junior competition was contested by China’s Gao Yang and England’s Sean Maddocks, with the former running out a 5-2 winner to claim the title and a two-year professional tour card. The open age competition saw Ashley Hugill reclaim his place on the World Snooker Tour with a 5-3 victory against Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko.
All four finalists would ultimately earn professional status as a result of their performances, while several other players would be rewarded for their achievements by qualification for prestigious professional events including the World Championship.
