Bumper and stellar field heading to China for the 2025 World Women's Snooker Championship

Home hero Bai Yulu will be back to try and successfully defend the prestigious title, and join an elite club of multiple-time champions.

History was made last year as China not only hosted the blue riband event for the first time, but the mainland country celebrated its maiden winner after Bai ousted Thailand's Mink Nutcharut, 6-5, in a thrilling final to lift The Mandy Fisher Trophy.

The staging of the tournament was a big success, and the World Women's Snooker Tour and the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association have again worked very hard and closely together to see a return to the Dongguan venue.

The winner of this year's edition will be rewarded with a two-year professional tour card for the World Snooker Tour. If the champion already has a tour card, that spot will be allocated to the highest placed player on the women's world ranking list who doesn't have one, at the end of this event.

Who has entered the 2025 World Women's Snooker Championship?

There is a big increase on entries for this year's event; 74 represents the busiest field for the Championship this century.

Cueists from New Zealand, Mongolia, India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Australia, Japan, Thailand, and England are scheduled to compete, and eight of the world's top nine are set for the draw which will be made shortly before the baize action gets underway.

Players will initially be slotted into round robin groups where they will attempt to qualify for the tournament-concluding knockout phase.

As well as the main event, there are also under-21 and seniors championships on the programme.

World Women's Snooker Tour President Mandy Fisher said: “We are delighted to see such an amazing number of entries for this year’s World Championship which underlines the continued growth of women’s snooker on a global level.

“Last year’s World Championship was the best women’s snooker tournament that I have been a part of during my 44 years, and I have no doubt that this year’s event will be even better with so many fantastic players involved.”

A full list of entries can be viewed on snookerscores.net, here.

Who are the favourites? Who has won what this season on the women's snooker circuit?

Several players are considered to be the favourites for this year's top prize.

Predicting the winner of this tournament has proven very tricky in recent years, with the last five editions yielding five different champions.

Defending champion Bai has combined her recent engagements on the women's circuit along with her first season on the professional tour, where she reached the last 48 of the 2024 UK Championship and was recently named as the Rookie of the Year in the end-of-season World Snooker Tour awards.

Bai won this season's UK Women's Championship in September, and roared on by home support again, many will rank the exciting 21-year-old talent as the pre-tournament favourite.

It has been another compelling season on the World Women's Snooker Tour with the roadshow visiting the United States of America, England, Australia, Morocco, and Belgium.

The most consistent player on the circuit is world number one Mink, who has reached the final of the last five events on the calendar, winning titles in Sydney and Saïdia. Each of those five finals were decided in a deciding frame, showing how competitive it is amongst the elite exponents on the women's tour.

25-year-old Mink has reached the final of the World Women's Championship in three of the four most recent stagings - claiming her first title in 2022 in Sheffield when she pipped Wendy Jans 6-5 in the final.

Hong Kong's Ng On Yee is the current world number two, and due to her ranking position, is guaranteed to be back on the professional tour next season.

On Yee is aiming to win the world crown for a fourth time; she reached the final five years running between 2014 to 2018, and was the first Asian champion with glory coming in 2015. Further triumphs arrived in 2017 and 2018.

The 34-year-old has not been back to the final since, although will travel to Dongguan in fine form having won the most recent event on the women's circuit at the British Open at the end of March. On Yee also won the US Open, without dropping a frame.

Record 12-time World Women's Snooker Champion Reanne Evans has also won two titles on the circuit this campaign, with trophy lifts at the Masters in November and the Belgian Open in February.

Evans, though, has not featured in the world final at the last three editions, and comes here under some pressure to retain her place on the professional circuit.

World numbers one (Mink) and two (On Yee) already have tour cards for the upcoming 2025/26 season, so world number three Evans would be next in line for a pro tour spot via the women's rankings, but should someone other than herself, Mink, On Yee or Bai collect the title, then she would miss out on the top flight.

One of those contenders is Baipat Siripaporn, who won this title two years ago on home soil in Thailand when she denied Bai 6-3 in the final.

Baipat has not featured much on the women's tour this season, electing to mainly focus on her professional tour duties. However, having been recently relegated from the World Snooker Tour, the 25-year-old could get back to the top tier by regaining The Mandy Fisher Trophy.