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Mike Chan

World snooker champion Luca Brecel has said during a visit to Hong Kong that he is relishing playing in China again – with September’s Shanghai Masters top of his wish list.
The four-time ranking tournament winner also said he hoped to play at the Hong Kong Masters if last year’s event were to be repeated.
“The Belgian Bullet” was on a personal tour when he met young local players and media at the General Snooker Club in Hong Kong’s To Kwa Wan district on Friday – but is already looking forward to his next trip to the country.
“I’d like to win one or two tournaments this season, any tournament, really,” said Brecel, who stunned the sport by claiming the world title in entertaining fashion in May, beating Mark Selby 18-15 in the final.

“If you have to choose, of course you’d pick the bigger ones like the Triple Crown events, but the Shanghai Masters is one of my favourites, so if I could win that one it would be great.”
The 28-year-old leapt to No 2 in the world rankings thanks to his Crucible triumph – but knows he has plenty to do to stay there.
“There are so many good players at the top of their game, so it’s difficult, but I’d love to win at least one [this season],” he said.
“Because if you don’t win a tournament as a world champion, people are going to say it’s been a bad season.”
In fact, he sees reaching the top spot as a realistic goal, especially given that current No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan likes to pick and choose which events to play in.
“Ronnie is going to lose a lot of points and I am not, so I’ve got a good chance to be the No 1 – I just need to have a good season and I’ll make it,” Brecel said. “World champion and world No 1, that is the ultimate goal.”
Brecel, who also won the Champions League and was a finalist at the British Open last season, will start his new season with the European Masters in Germany in late August, with the Shanghai event next.
And he said he is committed to playing in all three tournaments in China this season.
“One hundred per cent, I’d love to come to China,” Brecel said. “It’s going to be quite a strange feeling playing there again, but I am really looking forward to it, especially in Shanghai.
“We also have Wuhan as a new tournament in October, so I’m looking forward to that, and then we have the International Championships [the month after]. It’s been a long time since I last played in China, and so those are nice things to come.”
The Belgian said he would love to play in Hong Kong, after reading about the city’s Masters invitation tournament last October, which is not in the 2023 calendar.
“Hopefully one day I can play at the Hong Kong Coliseum – I was hoping to play at the event this year but it didn’t happen, so hopefully next year we will have something,” he said.
Macau, the city’s neighbour, announced last month that it had lured several of the world’s best for an exhibition event this Christmas, but Brecel was missing from the line-up.
It will, however, include O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Hong Kong’s Marco Fu Ka-chun, China’s Si Jiahui and Ding Junhui, Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski.


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Hong Kong’s Ng On-yee wins British Open, Wang back on World Snooker Tour, as 80% funding cut hangs over sport

Ronnie O’Sullivan out of world championships, says refs ‘have got it in for me’ after quarter-final loss to Stuart Bingham

World Snooker

Snooker world champion Luca Brecel reveals Shanghai ambition during Hong Kong visit

Luca Brecel at a meet-and-greet session at General Snooker Club in Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Luca Brecel demonstrates some of the tricks of his trade in Hong Kong on Friday. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Snooker match fixing: 5 players given longer bans in China face global exclusion too, WPBSA confirms in blow for Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong

Yan Bingtao’s global ban had been reduced by a third for pleading guilty, but the Chinese federation has restored its full length. Photo: Xinhua

Zhao Xintong could have played again next year under the WPBSA ruling, but must now wait until 2025. Photo: Xinhua

World Snooker Championship: Brecel holds off Selby fightback to win title, forecasts European boom for the sport

Belgium’s Luca Brecel celebrates with the trophy after winning the World Championship at the Crucible. Photo: AFP

Belgium’s Luca Brecel beat England’s Mark Selby 18-15 in the final of the World Championship. Photo: AFP

England’s Mark Selby plays a shot during the evening session on May 1. Photo: AFP

As Ronnie O’Sullivan, Marco Fu head to Macau for Christmas snooker tournament, will they ever return to Hong Kong?

Judd Trump (far left) and Ronnie O’Sullivan at the launch of the 2023 Macau Snooker Masters. Photo: Macau Snooker Masters

(From second left) Si Jiahui, Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jack Lisowski, Marco Fu. Photo: Macau Snooker Masters

Sport

Hong Kong

Other Sport

‘Belgian Bullet’ picks out Shanghai Masters among tournaments he will target as he looks to live up to being world champion
He also hopes to play in Hong Kong Masters if last year’s event is repeated – and believes taking Ronnie O’Sullivan’s world No 1 ranking is in his reach


He also hopes to play in Hong Kong Masters if last year’s event is repeated – and believes taking Ronnie O’Sullivan’s world No 1 ranking is in his reach.


Hong Kong Masters (snooker)

Snooker world champion Luca Brecel reveals Shanghai ambition during Hong Kong visit

‘Belgian Bullet’ picks out Shanghai Masters among tournaments he will target as he looks to live up to being world champion He also hopes to play in Hong Kong Masters if last year’s event is repeated – and believes taking Ronnie O’Sullivan’s world No 1 ranking is in his reach

‘Belgian Bullet’ picks out Shanghai Masters among tournaments he will target as he looks to live up to being world champion

He also hopes to play in Hong Kong Masters if last year’s event is repeated – and believes taking Ronnie O’Sullivan’s world No 1 ranking is in his reach