2024 Q School Explained

Venue:Morningside Arena and BSAT Academy
Location:Leicester and Bangkok
Country:England and Thailand
Format:Qualifying School
Qualifiers:12 via the 4 events
Previous:2023

The 2024 Q School was a series of four snooker tournaments held at the start of the 2024–25 snooker season. An event for amateur players, it served as a qualification event for a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the following two seasons. The events took place in May and June 2024 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England and also at the BSAT Academy in Bangkok, Thailand with a total 12 players qualifying via the four tournaments. The two events held in England were organised by the World Snooker Tour, whilst those in Thailand were organised by the Billiard Sports Association of Thailand.

The series was shown live on Facebook and Youtube, the first time the Q School had been streamed.[1]

Format

The 2024 Q School consisted of four events, two held in the UK and two "Asia-Oceania" events held in Thailand.[2] The two UK events had 167 entries competing for eight places on the main tour, while the two Asia-Oceania events had 99 players competing for a further four places. The Asia-Oceania events were only open to citizens of those continents. Any player was allowed to enter the UK events, but players could not enter both the Asia-Oceania and UK events.[2] All matches were the best of seven frames.

Event 1

The first 2024 Q School event was held from 21 to 26 May 2024 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. Artemijs Zizins, Allan Taylor, Haydon Pinhey and Wang Yuchen qualified.[3] The results of the four final matches are given below.[4]

Event 2

The second 2024 Q School event was held from 27 May to 1 June 2024 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. Antoni Kowalski, Chris Totten, Farakh Ajaib and Mitchell Mann qualified.[5] The results of the four final matches are given below.[6]

Asia-Oceania event 1

The first 2024 Asia-Oceania Q School event was held from 22 to 27 May 2024 at the BSAT Academy in Bangkok, Thailand. Lim Kok Leong and Sunny Akani qualified.[7] The results of the two final matches are given below.[8]

Asia-Oceania event 2

The second 2024 Asia-Oceania Q School event was held from 28 May to 2 June 2024 at the BSAT Academy in Bangkok, Thailand. Haris Tahir and Kreishh Gurbaxani qualified.[9] The results of the two final matches are given below.[10]

Q School Order of Merit

A Q School Order of Merit was produced for players who failed to gain a place on the main tour. The Order of Merit will be used to top up fields for the 2024–25 snooker season where an event fails to attract the required number of entries.[2] The rankings in the Order of Merit were based on the number of frames won in the two UK Q School events. Players who received a bye into the second round were awarded four points for round one. Where players were equal, those who won the most frames in the first event were ranked higher. Other tie-breaker criteria were used if players are still tied. Dylan Emery led the Order of Merit.[11]

The leading players in the UK Q School Order of Merit are given below.[12]

RankPlayerEvent 1 Event 2 Total
1 Dylan Emery23 18 41
2 Simon Blackwell19 21 40
3 Iulian Boiko14 21 35
4 Joshua Thomond12 22 34
5 Paul Deaville19 14 33
6 Daniel Womersley19 13 32
7 Anton Kazakov17 15 32
8 Joshua Cooper19 12 31
9 Florian Nüßle19 11 30
10 Mark Joyce18 12 30

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Watch Q School on WST Youtube and Facebook . https://web.archive.org/web/20240516152804/https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/may/14/watch-q-school-on-wst-youtube-and-facebook . live . 16 May 2024 . 16 May 2024 . World Snooker Tour.
  2. Web site: Q School . https://web.archive.org/web/20240506091219/https://www.wst.tv/q-school . live . 6 May 2024 . 6 May 2024 . World Snooker Tour.
  3. Web site: Pinhey ends Q School heartache to turn professional . https://web.archive.org/web/20240526140900/https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/may/26/pinhey-ends-q-school-heartache-to-turn-professional/ . live . 26 May 2024 . 26 May 2024 . World Snooker Tour.
  4. Web site: Qualifying School 1 (2024) - snooker.org . www.snooker.org.
  5. Web site: Ajaib, Kowalski, Mann and Totten run Q School gauntlet . https://web.archive.org/web/20240601154056/https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/june/01/final-four-run-q-school-gauntlet/ . live . 1 June 2024 . 1 June 2024 . World Snooker Tour.
  6. Web site: Qualifying School 2 (2024) - snooker.org . www.snooker.org.
  7. Web site: Akani and Lim capture tour cards . 27 May 2024 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20240527192631/https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/may/27/akani-and-lim-capture-tour-cards/ . live . 27 May 2024 .
  8. Web site: Qualifying School 1 - Asia & Oceania (2024) - snooker.org . www.snooker.org.
  9. Web site: Tahir and Gurbaxani secure tour cards . 2 June 2024 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20240602200638/https://www.wst.tv/news/2024/june/02/tahir-and-/ . live . 2 June 2024 .
  10. Web site: Qualifying School 2 - Asia & Oceania (2024) - snooker.org . www.snooker.org.
  11. Web site: 2024 Q School Order of Merit . 6 June 2024 . World Snooker Tour.
  12. Web site: Q School Order of Merit (2024) - snooker.org . 1 June 2024 . www.snooker.org.