Championship League: Neil Robertson withdraws from season’s first ranking event in Leicester as Ashley Carty advances

Neil Robertson withdrew from the first ranking of the season as the Championship League got underway at Leicester’s Morningside Arena on Monday.

23-time ranking event winner Robertson joins world champion Luca Brecel – winner of the event a year ago – Mark Selby, Mark Allen and John Higgins in opting out of the early summer snooker action.

Carty won the section courtesy of a 3-0 win over Duffy in his final group match having earlier drew 2-2 with Steadman and McAllister, respectively.

He edged through to the last-32 group stage on frame difference after finishing on five points alongside McAllister.

Welshman Daniel Wells dominated Group 30 to join Carty in advancing with 3-0 wins over David Grace and Andrew Higginson and a 3-1 victory against 2006 world champion Graeme Dott.

Hossein Vafaei competes in Group 11 on Tuesday with Shoot Out winner Chris Wakelin in Group 21 as the competition continues.

There are 32 groups of four at the Championship League, with the winner of each group progressing to the second stage which, will contain a further eight groups of four, before two final groups of four compete to reach the semi-finals and final.

World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan is due to return to action on Monday July 10 and has been drawn in Group 1 alongside Scott Donaldson, Rod Lawler and Alfie Burden, who was successful in regaining a fresh two-year tour card at Q School earlier this month.

Three-time world champion Mark Williams faces Dylan Emery, Ken Doherty and Thor Chuan Leong in Group 6 on Friday June 30, while Masters winner Judd Trump meets Jimmy White, Reanne Evans and Xu Si in Group 2 on Tuesday July 11.

Tour champion Shaun Murphy takes on Tian Pengfei, Lukas Kleckers and Andrew Pagett in Group 4 on Wednesday July 12.

Championship League Stage 1

• June 26-30
• July 3-8
• July 10-14

Championship League Stage 2

Championship Stage 3