THE WELSH Open qualification stages began this evening at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.

Dechawat Poomjaeng beat Ben Woollaston 4-2 to make it through to the venue stage of the competition where he will play defending Ding Junhui next week at the Newport Centre. Ding is one of eight players selected by World Snooker who will play their final qualifying match at the venue stage.

Indian star Aditya Mehta continued his impressive season after beating Dave Harold 4-2 to progress to the second qualification round. Mehta will play Mark King on Friday evening to battle for a place in the last 32 and the venue stage.

Those were the only two matches tonight but the qualifiers kick into gear tomorrow (Thursday) with matches taking place throughout the day.

The morning session sees Jamie Jones, Luca Brecel and Michael White in action.

Young talent Jack Lisowski kicks off his Welsh Open campaign against Ian Burns and Cao Yupeng, who made the last 16 of the World Championship last season, takes on Martin O’Donnell in the afternoon session.

And the evening session sees David Gilbert, Rory McLeod and former World Championship semi-finalist James Wattana take to the baize as they battle to reach the final qualification round.

To see the full Welsh Open Qualification Draw click here.