Disability Snooker Champions Shine in Shanghai
Champions were crowned across six classification groups at the 2026 WDBS International Disability Snooker Invitational Tournament in Shanghai, China on Monday.
The non-ranking event took place at the Hengshan Park Hotel and saw local players joined by 17 international invitees to make up a field of 47 cueists in Shanghai.
The event was run in partnership with Shanghai Billiards Association (SHBA), China Administration of Sports for Persons with Disabilities (CASPD) and the Chinese Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA) and also featured a National Disability Promotion event, which saw taster sessions taking place for novice players to help promote disability snooker in China.
Group 1+2
England’s Dave Beaumont added another title to his ever-growing collection by defeating China’s Wen Xue 2-1 in the wheelchair final.
Eight players contested the Group 1+2 competition as Beaumont and Wen each romped to the final with four group stage victories and no frames lost.
Wen, who had previously reached the quarter-final of the 2025 World Championship, took the opening frame of the title match but the current world number one hit back to take the next two and secure the gold medal.
Group 3
Thailand’s Thanapol Seekao followed up on his recent World Championship title defence by winning the title in Shanghai with a 2-0 win over India’s Shayan Shetty.
The two-time world champion remains unbeaten in WDBS events, having also won the World Abilitysport Games gold medal in 2023, and dropped just two frames in six matches in China.
In a repeat of the 2025 World Championship final, Shetty took on Seekao in the title match and it was once again the man from Thailand who came away victorious.
Group 4
Belgium’s Yannick Piscador won the first WDBS title of his career by defeating Zhang Zhongqiang 2-0 in the final.
The 37-year-old Belgian was the standout cueist of the five-player competition as he topped the group phase with a clean sweep of victories.
China’s Zhang was making his debut in WDBS competition and reached the final with two group stage wins, but he was unable to convert his run into a maiden title victory as Piscador won his first WDBS title at the sixth attempt.
Group 5
Thailand’s Songkiat Raebankoo continued his streak of winning every WDBS event he has competed in by defeating China’s Lu Yun 2-0 in the Group 5 final.
Raebankoo, who had successfully defended the World Championship title on home soil in June, reached yet another final with two group stage victories – despite a 2-1 loss to world number two Dalton Lawrence from England.
Lu was his opponent in the title match following a clean sweep of group stage victories on his WDBS debut, but it was Raebankoo’s day as he earned to 2-0 victory to secure another gold medal.
Group 6A
China’s Wang Jiaqui won his maiden WDBS title on home soil by defeating compatriot Yang Junhui in the Group 6A final.
The four-player competition featured an all-Chinese line-up in Shanghai and it was Wang and Yang who reached the last stage by overcoming Mo Quanhu and Xia Hui.
Yang had come from behind to earn a 2-1 win in their group stage meeting. However, Wang gained revenge at the most important time to win the last two frames of the final and complete the title-winning victory.
Group 6B+7+8
England’s Lewis Knowles defeated Leroy Williams 2-1 to win the combined intellectual, visual and deaf competition.
Twelve players contested the event, which was merged due to entry numbers, and it was the Group 8 world number one who won through.
A clean sweep of group stage victories, which included a win against two-time Group 7 world champion Dylan Rees, saw Knowles advance to the last four where he then overcame another former world champion in Belgium’s Kristof De Bruyn.
Fifteen-time WDBS event winner Williams was his final opponent but he was unable to add another title to his collection as Knowles took the title in a decider.
WDBS would like to thank the Shanghai Billiards Association (SHBA), China Administration of Sports for Persons with Disabilities (CASPD) and the Chinese Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA) and everyone involved with making the 2026 WDBS International Disability Snooker Invitational Tournament a success.
