China Open Snooker: The 2026 Return, Results & History

The China Open is back. After a gap since 2019, it returned to the World Snooker Tour from 8 to 16 August 2026 at the Riverside Sports Centre in Taiyuan, and Mark Selby beat Noppon Saengkham 10–6 in the final to become the first player to win it four times. The date of the next edition has not been announced.

The China Open is a ranking event, first staged in Shanghai in 1999, when Ronnie O'Sullivan won it. Ding Junhui won in Beijing in 2005, aged 18, beating Stephen Hendry in the final. The 2020 edition was cancelled because of COVID-19, and the event was not held again until 2026; WST chairman Steve Dawson called its return "back to our global calendar for the first time in seven years".

The 2026 China Open

Dates and venue: 8–16 August 2026, Riverside Sports Centre, Taiyuan (Shanxi province).
Field: 144 players. Initial qualifiers were played in Leicester in June and included Chinese wildcards; at the venue, two local wildcards played two qualifiers before the last 32.
Format: best of 11 frames from the start, on two tables, with a best-of-19 final.
Prize money: about £1.2 million in total, with £250,000 to the winner and £100,000 to the runner-up.

How Selby won it

Selby came from 4–2 down in the final. It was his eighth ranking title in China, a record, and his 26th ranking title overall. Saengkham had come through qualifying and beaten Judd Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy and Zhou Yuelong on his way to the final.

There is a cue story too. WST's report says Selby switched to a new cue over the summer after 20 years with his old one, moving to a 9.2mm tip; the tip on his old cue had worn down to 8.5mm. It is a reminder that even the best players eventually replace a cue, and that tip size is a real part of the change. Our cue size finder helps you pick a tip, length and weight for your own game.

Recent winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final
2026	Mark Selby	Noppon Saengkham	10–6
2020–2025	not held (2020 cancelled because of COVID-19)
2019	Neil Robertson	Jack Lisowski	11–4
2018	Mark Selby	Barry Hawkins	11–3
2017	Mark Selby	Mark Williams	10–8

How to watch in the UK

TNT Sports, streaming on HBO Max. TNT Sports moved its streaming from discovery+ to HBO Max in the UK in March 2026, so older guides that say discovery+ are out of date. The China Open is among the 16 events in TNT Sports' 2026 rights renewal. It is not on the BBC.

Tickets

Tickets for the 2026 edition were sold in China, not through WST, and no UK ticket route was published.

Sources

Checked on 30 October 2026. Dates and broadcasters can change; the official pages below have the final word.