The first ranking event ever played in India gets underway in … Doncaster. Round 1 saw 128 players in action on August 11 & 12, 2013, with the 64 winners bound to Delhi later in the season. All Grove players were involved. Wenbo, Li Yan, Anda, Yu Delu and Sleepy will play in India. Judd, Jack and Li Hang didn’t make it.

Last 128 – best of 7

Liang Wenbo 4-0 Scott Donaldson
Wenbo had too much for the young Scott and won each frame comfortably except for the last, low scoring one, that was close. Wenbo had a break of 60 in frame 1.

Peter Lines 2-4 Li Yan
Peter had the only 50+ break in the match, but Li Yan won the 4 frames he needed in typical hard fought style and he’s the one heading to India.

Judd Trump 3-4 Zhang Anda
Anda beat Judd and is now bound to India. Did it in some style as well, scoring two centuries in 4 winning frames (101 and 109/116 ?)

Nigel Bond 4-3 Li Hang
It was heartbreak for Li Hang would played well and made 68, 54 and 53 to Lead 3-2. But Nigel is extremely hard to beat and very experienced. He won a very cloe 8th frame to force the decider that he then took with a break of 54.

Robert Milkins 2-4 Chen Zhe
Chen Zhe dominated the match, with Robert not scoring as heavily as he can when on form. Sleepy had breaks of 50 and an excellent 125 to lead 4-1. Robert kept his hopes alive briefly, taking the next with a 68, but it’s as good as it was for him. Sleepy took the next frame and the match with a score of 76-48.

Yu Delu 4-2 Stuart Carrington
Stuart is a quite methodical type of player and there weren’t any big breaks in this match. Most frames were close but in the end Yu Delu won comfortably, if not quickly.

Jack Lisowski 2-4 Liam Highfield
For the first three frames the match was extremely close, each frame could have gone either way and Jack looked good as he lead 2-1. From there however Liam found his stride and Jack didn’t pot a ball in the next two whilst Liam hit 71 and 105. Jack was first in in the next but couldn’t make much of it and Liam sealed the match with a score of 75-39 in the last frame after Jack – having got another chance – wobbled a red.