World Billiards Championship 2026 | Tournament Preview
One of the strongest fields for many years will contest the 2026 World Billiards Championship as the event returns to the Landywood Snooker Club on 19-22 October.
In total, 60 players from 12 nations will compete at the World Championship in a line-up that includes each of the top 10 players in the World Billiards rankings and six former world champions.
The Landywood Snooker Club in Walsall, England will host the event for the fourth consecutive year with the champion set to be crowned on Thursday 22 October.
THE DEFENDING CHAMPION
David Causier will arrive in Staffordshire as the defending champion and is the favourite to retain his crown.
He is aiming for a hat-trick of World Billiards Championship titles at the Landywood Snooker Club – having defeated Robert Hall in the 2024 final and followed this up with a dominant defeat of Dhruv Sitwala 12 months ago.
The Englishman has continued to impress throughout the campaign, winning multiple ranking event titles including the World Matchplay Championship – where he defeated fellow former world champion Mike Russell 8-5 to win the prestigious event for a sixth year in a row.
THE FORMER CHAMPIONS
Six former world champions will compete at this year’s World Championship as five of the biggest names in the sport aim to deny the defending champion a hat-trick of titles.
Peter Gilchrist, who represents Singapore, was the last person to beat David Causier in a World Championship match when he overcame the Englishman in the 2023 title match.
Gilchrist will be aiming to retain the title this year, as will the Indian trio of Pankaj Advani, Geet Sethi, making his first World Championship appearance since 2018, and Sourav Kothari – the latter being the most recent player to win the title prior to Causier or Gilchrist with victory on his last appearance on English soil back in 2018.
Completing the list of former winners is 12-time world champion Mike Russell, who will be hoping to make it lucky number 13 and go one better than his run to the final of this year’s World Matchplay Championship.
THE CONTENDERS
All the World Billiards top ten ranked players are among the field at the Landywood Snooker Club including two recent finalists in Robert Hall and Dhruv Sitwala.
England’s Hall reached the 2024 World Championship titles after defeating the defending champion Peter Gilchrist in the semi-finals and two-time ranking event winner Sitwala, from India, reached the same stage the following year.
The rest of the top 10 includes Peter Sheehan, Darren Clark, Chris Coumbe, Martin Goodwill, Jonathan Marwood and Ryan Mears.
Other notable names include Singapore’s Karthik Ramaswamy, who won the 2025 Queensland Open last November, and India’s Shruthi L – the reigning Women’s World Billiards Championship winner. Christian Kirk, Wayne Doyle and Dhvaj Haria are among the others to watch out for.
WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The Women’s World Championship returns on Wednesday 21 October with India’s Shruthi L aiming to defend her title.
Shruthi L defeated Anna Lynch in last year’s final and she once again features among the five-player line-up at the Landywood Snooker Club.
Sweden’s Eva Palmius will be looking to improve on a semi-final finish last year while the Scotland duo of Michelle Cohen and Mhairi Mackay are joined by Wales’ Gaye Jones.
The one-day event will begin with group stages before the champion is crowned on Wednesday afternoon.
HOW TO WATCH
Live streaming of table one will be available on the World Billiards official YouTube channel across the week while updated from all tables will be available here.
Spectators are also come along to the Landywood Snooker Club and watch the action free of charge.
