A fantastic result for Anda today, beating Andrew Higginson 10-8. Anda started well with an early break of 114 to lead 6-3 at the interval. However, after winning the first game of the second session, Andrew then won five games in a row to lead 8-7. Anda held his nerve to take the last three games and complete the victory. The win gives Anda double reason to celebrate, as it confirms his place on the Main Tour for 2010/11.

Sadly Jin Long was not able to join him, losing 3-10 to Rory McLeod.

Anda’s opponent in the last 48 will be Ricky Walden on Tuesday. Anda is joined in the final qualifying round by fellow Grove player Judd Trump, who plays Tom Ford on Monday.

Wednesday 3 March:

Mixed fortunes for Grove players today. Zhang Anda scored his most notable victory to date with a 10-6 win over John Parrott, which included a top break of 113. Jin Long continued his good form with a win by the same scoreline against Brendan O’Donoghue.

However Liu Song was defeated 7-10 by Tony Drago and Mei Xiwen lost 8-10 to David Morris in two games that stretched late into the evening.

Anda will take on world no 32 Andrew Higginson and Long will play world no 40 Rory McLeod in Friday’s fourth qualifying round, for a place in the last 48.

Tuesday 2 March:

Zhang Anda had a good start to his third round match against John Parrott, going into the interval 5-4 ahead.

Jin Long had an even better start, taking a 6-2 lead against Brendan O’Donoghue.

Matthew Selt went down 8-10 to Barry Pinches despite a late fightback where Matt pulled back from 4-9 to 8-9.

Monday 1 March:

Zhang Anda had a great 10-4 win against Craig Steadman, knocking in breaks of 101 and 99 in the process. Anda now plays former World Champion John Parrott on Tuesday.

Mei Xiwen went on to complete a victory against Chris Norbury by the same scoreline and will play David Morris on Wendesday.

Li Hang was very unlucky to lose 9-10 to David Hogan in a match that went on until nearly midnight. Hang did make a 100 break in the early part of the match.

Sunday 28 February:

Matt Selt produced a stunning fightback from 6-3 down to beat Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-8 in the second round of the Betfred.com World Championship qualifiers and attributed some of the credit to the visit of his girlfriend.

Selt had fallen behind after the first session and looked set to suffer a first round defeat for the only time this season.

“At 6-3 down realistically I could have been 7-2 up, I lost a couple from 60 in front and another when he needed snookers.

“I went back to the hotel and phoned my girlfriend, Emma who lives in Leeds and she got the train down. We decided to try plan B and I returned relaxed and with a different attitude,” said Selt.

It was a very different player who returned to the baize as the Romford player knocked in breaks of 52, 72, 45, 88 and 46 for a 8-6 lead. Un-Nooh had been unable to stem the flow pulled a frame back only for Selt to edge in front with a 58. Both players had chances in the seventeenth frame but it was the Thai player who took.

The next frame was tense but Selt sank a great final blue to set him up for victory. “It was a massive win for me. If I had lost today I would have been back where I started from pretty much in the rankings. It would have been an average season for me.”

As reported by http://www.worldsnooker.com/world_championship10_qualifying_news-124185.htm?tid=153

Mei Xiwen had a good start to his campaign, leading Christopher Norbury 5-3 after the first session. Li Hang is 4-5 down against David Hogan so has all to play for. The final session in both games starts Monday at 2.30pm.

Of the other Grove players involved in the qualifiers, Jin Long plays the winner of Matthew Couch and Brendan O’Donoghue on Tuesday, Liu Song plays the winner of Tony Drago and Xiao Guodong on Wednesday and Judd Trump enters the final round of qualifying on Monday 8 March.

Also playing Monday are Zhang Anda who plays Craig Steadman at 10am and 7pm,d

Judd Trump wasted no time in booking his place for the final stages at Beijing. He beat Tom Ford 5-1 and rattled in breaks of 114 and 100 on the way.

Judd will play Peter Ebdon in the last 32 – the tournament begins on 29 March.

Wednesday

Both Matt Selt and Mei Xiwen were defeated in their second round matches today. Matt lost 4-5 to Rod Lawler, going down 49-62 in the deciding frame – despite a break of 105 earlier in the match. Xiwen was up against an in-form Robert Milkins who ran away the 5-1 winner.

Jin Long lost 5-2 in his second round match against Jimmy Robertson and Liu Song was defested by the same scoreline by Sam Baird.

Tuesday

There were wins in the first qualifying round today for Grove players Matt Selt and Mei Xiwen. Matt beat Mark Boyle 5-2 including a break of 134 in the first frame and also had breaks of 59, 96 and 54. Xiwen will be very pleased to have won a tough encounter with Noppadol Sangnil 5-4. Xiwen took the eight frame 61-58 with a break of 52 and then won the decider with a break of 92.

Zhang Anda also had a very close game but was unlucky to lose 5-4 to Chris Norbury despite making breaks of 77, 67 and 59.

Li Hang was unfortunate to come up against an unstoppable David Gray who won 5-0 including a break of 134.

Long has been a pro since 2001 and is currently enjoying his highest ever ranking, at no 60.

Playing at Romford with a number of his countrymen, including Liu Song, Zhang Anda, Li Hang, Mei Xiwen and Chen Zhe, we hope Long will feel at home here very quickly.