WST PLAY Brings Live Commentary to Qualifying Action — Starting With the China Open
The Drama Starts Before the Main Event
There's a particular kind of tension that lives in snooker qualifying. No gilded theatre, no primetime slot, no roaring crowd — just a player and a table and everything on the line. For years, that drama has played out largely unseen, felt only by those in the room or tracked nervously through live scoring apps. That's about to change in a significant way.
WST has confirmed that fans will now be able to watch table one at all qualifying events throughout the 2026/27 season live on WST PLAY, complete with expert commentary. It's a genuine step forward for the sport's grassroots viewing experience, and it kicks off with the China Open and Wuhan Open qualifiers, running from 10th to 18th June.
Who's Commentating — and Who's Playing
David Hendon, one of the most respected voices in the commentary box, will be among the team guiding subscribers through the action. For fans who've followed Hendon's work across decades of televised snooker, hearing that familiar expertise applied to the qualifying stage feels like a proper statement of intent from WST.
And the players set to feature are far from journeymen. Ali Carter, Jack Lisowski, Luca Brecel and Chang Bingyu are among those confirmed to be in action during the opening qualifying block. Carter, a two-time World Championship finalist, and Brecel, the reigning world champion at the time of his 2023 Crucible triumph, bring genuine headline quality to what might once have been considered background noise on the tour calendar.
Lisowski, meanwhile, remains one of the most watchable players in the game — all attacking intent and crowd-pleasing potting — while Chang Bingyu represents the continued rise of Chinese talent through the professional ranks. In short, there's real quality to follow from day one.
What WST PLAY Subscribers Get
The commentary coverage is available globally, with the exception of China — where viewers can follow proceedings via Migu, Huya, Douyin and WeChat. For those outside China, including fans across the UK and Europe, this new benefit adds what WST describe as an extra 53 days of commentary-led qualifying matches across the full season. That's a substantial chunk of snooker that previously existed only on the periphery of most fans' attention.
It's worth remembering what a WST PLAY subscription already offers. Thousands of hours of archive footage — classic matches, forgotten finals, career-defining frames from tournaments stretching back years — sit alongside the live offering. Subscribers also receive exclusive priority access to tickets for all UK tournaments, including the Triple Crown events: the UK Championship, Masters and World Championship. For any serious fan, that combination is hard to argue with.
For context, the qualifying schedule for the full 2026/27 season runs as follows:
- China Open & Wuhan Open Qualifiers — 10th–18th June
- Xi'an Grand Prix, British Open & English Open Qualifiers — 19th–26th July
- Northern Ireland Open, International Championship & Scottish Open Qualifiers — 13th–23rd September
- German Masters Qualifying — 16th–19th November
- UK Championship Qualifying — 21st–26th November
- Welsh Open & World Open Qualifying — 2nd–6th February 2027
- World Championship Qualifying — 5th–14th April 2027
Why This Matters
Snooker's qualifying system has always been where the sport's real stories begin. A missed ball in a Bolton sports hall in October can end a career. A composed break under pressure in front of two spectators and a referee can launch one. These aren't footnotes — they're the spine of the professional tour.
Bringing live commentary to that environment closes a gap that fans have long felt. When you can hear a commentator place a frame in context — explain who needs the win, what's at stake for ranking points, why a particular player's cue action has shifted — a match that might scroll past on a results feed becomes something worth sitting down for.
The 2026/27 season is shaping up to be a rich one across all its chapters. With live qualifying coverage now part of the offer, WST PLAY is making sure fans don't have to wait for the tournament proper to start caring.
