Mark Selby is through to the China Championship next month after beating Jimmy White 5-2 in qualifying held at Preston on Monday.

The match was tight at the half-way stage with the players going into the mid-session interval 2-2 but Selby didn’t lose another frame, going ahead with a break of 118 and carrying on to book a place on the flight to Beijing.

Other big names of the sport also booked their place in the tournament on Monday. Among them was Judd Trump, coming through a scrappy display against Eden Sharav while former world champion Stuart Bingham came from behind to cap what had seemed an unlikely win. He was 4-2 down against Craig Steadman and heading out only to rally, win the next three frames and secure a place in China.

The China Championship takes place in Beijing next month with the final coming through a best of 19 frames contest. The defending champion is Luca Brecel who won his first ranking tournament, beating Shaun Murphy in last year’s final.

Others through to take their place at the tournament include Masters runner-up Kyren Wilson who had no trouble overcoming Lukas Kleckers 5-1 and Stephen Maguire beat Chen Feilong by the same scoreline. Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien and the Scottish pair of Scott Donaldson and Rhys Clark also booked their places.

There will be plenty of home interest in Beijing too. Lyu Haotian won through on Sunday and Monday’s qualifiers saw Yan Bingtao beat compatriot Niu Zhuang while fellow Chinese players Mei Xiwen, Xiao Guodong and Zhang Anda are all through.

The qualifiers continue on Tuesday with John Higgins, Barry Hawkins and David Gilbert among those taking part. Hawkins is 1.02 to beat Simon Lichtenberg priced at 12.00 while Anthony McGill is 1.29 to beat Joe Swail at 3.25.