Chang Bingyu qualifies for Welsh Open to stay in chase for jackpot pay-out

Last month, the 23-year-old impressively reached his maiden ranking event final at the Scottish Open in Edinburgh having won seven matches to get there, including eliminations of Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, and Mark Allen in consecutive rounds.

Chang lost the final 9-2 to Chris Wakelin - after going 2-1 up - but collected £45,000, the biggest payday of his career, so far.

That sum not only zipped him up the world rankings, but put him in contention for this season's Home Nations Series order or merit race where there is a £150,000 prize for the cueist who finishes top of the standings.

Those hopes are very slim, but Chang kept them alive as he compiled breaks of 120, 108 and 74 in his victory over the top cueist from the United Arab Emirates, Shehab.

Earlier this week at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Chang also qualified for the final stages of the German Masters. He dismissed Oliver Brown 5-1 before getting the better of teenager Stan Moody 5-3 in a high-quality affair during which both players produced a pair of century breaks.

At the Tempodrom in Berlin in a few weeks' time, Chang faces world number three Neil Robertson in a blockbuster last 64 tie.

Elsewhere at the Welsh Open qualifiers, 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel - a semi-finalist at the Venue Cymru last year - ousted Farakh Ajaib, 4-3, to book another ticket for North Wales.

Matthew Selt - who in the two previous days had made his first 147 in professional competition, and won a group at the Championship League Invitational - was defeated by Switzerland's number one Alexander Ursenbacher, 4-2.

Hungarian teenager Bulcsu Revesz registered runs of 54, 72 and 62 as he whitewashed Noppon Saengkham 4-0 to qualify.

It was a very good couple of early sessions for several youngsters with Liam Pullen (won 4-3 v Robert Milkins), Robbie McGuigan (won 4-1 v Daniel Wells) and Moody (won 4-1 v Ian Burns) all advancing to the TV phase.

A shock winner of this event in 2021, Jordan Brown exits the competition after being defeated by 21-year-old Gao Yang, 4-1.

One of the performances of the final round came from former European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi who racked up breaks of 81, 135, 90 and 67 in a 4-0 win over Sahil Nayyar.

Marco Fu came back from 3-0 down to draw level but opponent Robbie Williams got the job done in a deciding frame.

Matthew Stevens won't be at his home professional event after exiting at the hands of Mitchell Mann, 4-2.

Louis Heathcote, Liu Wenwei, Liam Highfield, Amir Sarkhosh, and Sam Craigie were the other qualifiers from the morning and early afternoon sessions in Sheffield. There are 16 more matches to come in the late afternoon and evening.

The main venue stages of the 2026 Welsh Open take place between February 23 to March 1. Mark Selby is the reigning champion.

For the full results from the 2026 Welsh Open qualifiers, visit the World Snooker Tour website here.