This is only the second time that the Wuhan Open has been part of the snooker calendar after Judd Trump won the inaugural 2023 edition, overcoming Ali Carter 10–7 in the final.
Trump claimed the £140,000 winner's purse last season and, therefore, tops the seedings on his return to Wuhan. He has already won the Saudi Arabia Masters and the Shanghai Masters this season and is bidding to add this newly-formed ranking event to his growing list of accolades.
Mark Allen, who was seeded third, and Ronnie O'Sullivan are two notable withdrawals while Mark Selby was beaten in qualifying. However, it is still a star-studded field also featuring world champion Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson and home favourite Ding Junhui.
The Wuhan Open gets underway on Sunday 6th October and will conclude with a best-of-19 final on Saturday 12th October.
With the event being held in China, the matches will take place in the early hours of the morning and there will be three sessions of play each day at 03:00 BST, 07:00 BST and 12:30 BST.
The Wuhan Open takes place at the China Optics Valley Convention & Exhibition Center, in the city of Wuhan, China.
Last season’s event took place in the Wuhan Gymnasium, which played host to the taekwondo events in the 2019 Military World Games.
Selected matches at the Wuhan Open can be viewed via the bet365's Live Sports Streaming Service.
Eurosport will also be showing the action, with matches being broadcast live on Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 and discovery+. Replays can be caught throughout the day after play while chosen matches will be shown on Eurosport’s streaming service.
Defending champion Trump is the headline act in the Wuhan Open as he bids to claim his third title of the season following on from wins in the Saudi Arabia Masters and the Shanghai Masters.
Allen and O’Sullivan have pulled out of the event, which diminishes his challenge, while Selby was defeated 5-4 in his qualifier by home hope Long Zehuang and is another leading light missing.
There are nine qualifiers that have been held over to the venue, which are set to feature Trump, world champion Wilson and Chinese number one Ding Junhui.
2023 world champion Luca Brecel was also beaten in qualifying and misses the trip to Wuhan, alongside Mark Williams, but Robertson, Shaun Murphy and John Higgins have travelled to China for this ranking event.
Other top 16 performers in the field are Gary Wilson, Zhang Anda, Ali Carter and Si Jiahui while Barry Hawkins and Jack Lisowski are two other elite cueman in the line-up.
This is only the second time the Wuhan Open has taken place, with Trump taking the inaugural title with a 10-7 victory over Carter in the final.
Trump outclassed China’s Wu Yize 6-1 in the semi-final to reach the title decider while Carter also made light work of a home favourite, beating Lyu Haotian 6-2 in his last-four rumble.
Absentees O’Sullivan and Allen both competed in last season’s event but were both quarter-final casualties.