Left to right, Chen Zhe, Mei Xiwen, Zhang Anda and Li Yan.

The first Q School is now over. Li Yan successfully made it through but our other players will now be let loose on the PTC events, starting in June.

Q School 1

Agony for two of the Grove’s four Chinese players taking part, as Zhang Anda and Chen Zhe came within one match of a place on the Main Tour 2011/12.

Players need to get through five qualifying rounds to make it to the Tour, and both players duly depastched their first four opponents – Anda beating Alex Taubman (making a 116, the competition’s first century break), David Portman, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Kyren Wilson, all by the scoreline of 4 frames to 1. Zhe beat Ben Harrison 4-1, Michael Wasley 4-2, Stuart Carrington 4-1 and Ian Burns 4-2.

However both players met formidable opponents in the crucial final round, Anda losing 1-4 to David Grace and Zhe getting so close but losing 3-4 to Andrew Norman. Congratulations to David and Andrew who were joined by Adam Wicheard and Finland’s Robin Hull, all four players making it through to the Main Tour.

The other two Grove players, Mei Xiwen and Li Yan, met in the first round with Xiwen winning 4-2. Xiwen then beat Kishran Hirani 4-2 before losing 1-4 to Jamie O’Neill.

Q School 2

Great news for Li Yan – the first Grove player to qualify for the Main Tour via the Q School.

Yan received a bye to the second round and then defeated Tony Knowles 4-0, Vinnie Calabrese 4-0 and Kyren Wilson 4-3 before meeting David Gray in the last 8. He wrapped up a 4-1 win on Sunday morning to take his place on next season’s Tour.

Chen Zhe advanced to round three with a 4-0 win against Stephen Ellis and a 4-1 victory over Jak Jones, but was defeated in the last 32 by former professional Lee Spick, 2-4.

Mei Xiwen received a bye to round two but was defeated 2-4 by Ireland’s David Morris. Bad news for Zhang Anda too, who was unable to repeat his form of the first event as he crashed out in the first round 3-4 to Shahram Changezi.

Q School 3

Zhang Anda made it through to round 4 after beating Jamie O’Neill 4-2, Ian Glover 4-1 and Vinnie Calabrese 4-3. However he came up against a tough opponent in Stephen Craigie in round 4 and after quickly falling 0-3 behind ended up with a 2-4 defeat.

Mei Xiwen received a bye to the 2nd round where he beat George Marter 4-1 but then lost to Alex Davies 3-4.

After his heroics from previous rounds Chen Zhe wasn’t able to progress past round 1 this time, losing 1-4 to Rob James.

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.

A great win today for Liu Song in the final qualifying round, beating world no 24 Michael Holt 5-1. It’s the first time in over two years that Song has reached the final stages of a ranking tournament and he is looking forward to meeting up again with sometime Grove player Neil Robertson on Monday afternoon in Newport.

A good win for the Grove’s newest player too – Judd Trump overcame in-form Rory McLeod 5-4. Judd was 2-4 down at one stage but hit a break of 127 to win frame 7 and then went on to make an 83 to win the deciding frame. Judd will be playing

The other Grove player to feature in the last 32 is Ronnie O’Sullivan who plays occasional playing partner Stuart Bingham on Tuesday.

Bad news however for Li Hang who was hoping to make the last 32 of a ranking tournament for the first time. He was edged out 5-4 by Fergal O’Brien despite being on good form, hitting a break of 91 in the second frame.

Thursday

The run of good form from Liu Song and Li Hang continues. Both players defeated players ranked well above them.

Song beat Adrian Gunnell 5-2 and plays Michael Holt on Friday for a place in the Main Event next week.

Hang had a great 5-4 win against Mike Dunn and will face Fergal O’Brien.

Zhang Anda’s run sadly came to an end with a 5-2 defeat to Marcus Campbell.

Wednesday

A good day for all of the Grove players who all managed to negotiate their matches safely.

Liu Song had a great 5-0 win against Joe Jogia and Matt Selt beat Rod Lawler by the same score.

Zhang Anda had a tight game against Mark Joyce but ended up as a 5-4 winner.

Li Hang managed to see off Jin Long 5-3 to make it four wins out of four for our players on the day.

In the third round Song will play Adrian Gunnell, Hang will play Mike Dunn, Matt is up against Dominic Dale and Anda will play Marcus Campbell.

Tuesday

Matthew Selt, Li Hang and Zhang Anda all won their first round matches at Prestatyn today.

Matt beat David Gray 5-3 and Hang won 5-4 against Ian Preece. Particular congratulations must go to Hang who hit a career-best break of 138 in that match.

Matt will play Rod Lawler and Hang will play Jin Long in the second round.

Anda beat Matthew Couch 5-2 and will play Mark Joyce in the next round.

Mei Xiwen lost a very close game against Stephen Rowlings 5-4.

In the second round Liu Song will be up against Joe Jogia, to take place on Wednesday.