Yan Bingtao may already have done enough to qualify for the first event in the Coral Series, having won the Kaspersky Riga Masters on Sunday.

China’s 19-year-old Yan won his first ranking title, beating Mark Joyce 5-2 in the Latvian capital.

The £50,000 top prize puts Yan top of the one-year ranking list. This list will be used to determine who qualifies for the three Coral Series events in the second half of the season:

Coral World Grand Prix, Cheltenham, February 3-9. Top 32 on the one-year list after the German Masters will qualify.

Coral Players Championship, venue TBC, February 24 to March 1. Top 16 on the one-year list after the Shoot-Out.

Coral Tour Championship, Llandudno, March 17-22. Top eight on the one-year list after the Gibraltar Open.

Last season, Gary Wilson was the 32nd and last player to qualify for the  Coral World Grand Prix with £48,600. So, with nine counting events still to go, Yan may already have secured his place in Cheltenham.

Last season, Stephen Maguire was in 16th spot for the Coral Players Championship with £105,500. And Kyren Wilson was the eighth seed at the Tour Championship with £190,500.

Joyce had never previously been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event

Joyce reached the final of a ranking event for the first time and banked £25,000. Losing semi-finalists Kurt Maflin and Matthew Selt each receive £15,000.

On the official two-year list, Yan is up three places to a career-high position of 18th, while Joyce jumps seven spots to 47th. Ronnie O’Sullivan remains top of the list.

Yan is also sure of a place at the ManBetX Champion of Champions in November – for more on that story click here.

There is just one counting event to go – next week’s International Championship in Daqing – before the field is set for September’s invitational Shanghai Masters. Only the top 16 on the two-year list receive an invitation to the lucrative £751,000 event in Shanghai, with the field of 24 made up by the next four players of Chinese origin, two players from the CBSA China Tour and two from China’s Amateur Masters series.

In the race to Shanghai, Ali Carter is currently in 16th place with £282,650, just £3,000 ahead of 17th-placed Joe Perry. With a top prize of £175,000 up for grabs in Daqing, there are over 30 players currently outside the top 16 who could leap into the elite with victory in China.

Source: World Snooker