International Championship Snooker 2025 Predictions: Can Ding win on home soil again?

The World Snooker Tour moves from Belfast to Nanjing this week, with a great looking International Championship tournament taking place.

Play gets underway in the early hours of Sunday morning and our expert snooker tipster and ex-pro Craig Edwards (@EdwardsTips_) has three each-way selections for us, so here are his International Championship Snooker 2025 Predictions...

Mark Allen and Zhou Yuelong gave readers a great run for their each-way money in Northern Ireland, coming up one match shy as they reached the semifinals

The rest is history now with Jack Lisowski winning a maiden first ranking title in the most emotional scenes as he shared the stage with his good friend Judd Trump for a rousing finale.

Now, we look ahead to Nanjing...

History, Location and Format

The International Championship is the 11th running of this event, having been introduced to the WST back in 2012 as the 'first overseas major'.

The South New City National Fitness Center in Nanjing is again the host venue for the second year running, with the tournament running from Sunday, October 2, through to Sunday, October 9. The action will be broadcast live on TNT Sports and discovery+ in the UK.

There have only been three multiple winners of this event, with Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby all two-time winners. The defending champion is Ding, who beat Chris Wakelin 10-7 in the 2024 final.

Prize Money

International Championship Snooker Odds

1 pt Ding Junhui each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 12/1

If there are two events that I will be looking to bet Ding Junhui this year, it will be next week’s International Championship and the UK Championship later in the month.

We all know what a ridiculously strong record Ding has in the UK Championship at the Barbican Theatre in York and this venue in Nanjing could easily have the same effect.

This year is the second in succession that the SNC Fitness Centre in Nanjing has played host to the International Championship, and last year Ding found his best form to win the title for a second occasion.

The win provoked emotional scenes for the Chinese superstar, who was able to share glory with his young family for the first time, along with his adoring fans.

At thirty-eight, he plays fewer events than most, so he stayed in China after the Xi’an World Grand Prix, where he performed well but lost to the eventual runner-up Shaun Murphy.

Ding could get swift payback in Nanjing, as he is expected to face his rival in the round of 16—a challenging matchup. If Ding manages to defeat the current Masters champion, the boost in his confidence may propel him forward in his quest to retain the International Championship title.

0.5 pts Xiao Guodong each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 14/1

It has been a low volume, but high-quality start to the season for Xiao Guodong.

Guodong elected to represent China at the Asian Games rather than participate in the lucrative Saudi Masters. His decision was validated as he secured the Gold Medal in snooker while subsequently claiming another ranking title upon his return to the tour, when he successfully defended his Wuhan Open title.

The thirty-six-year-old came remarkably close to winning last year’s International Championship in Nanjing, losing in the semi-final to Chris Wakelin 9-8, so returning home seems to work as a slight advantage for Guodong.

He's ranked #11 globally and is likely to reach the top 8 soon. With Ali Carter out of the International Championship, Xiao has a favourable early draw and offers punters a reliable each-way bet.

0.5 pts Gary Wilson each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 20/1

Gary Wilson has been a revelation this season, knuckling down and putting a poor 2024/2025 campaign in the rear-view mirror.

The two Chinese events, the Wuhan Open and Xi’an World Grand Prix have seen Wilson runner up and semi-finalist, so can he go one better this week and will it be third time lucky?

The only quarter-final the forty-year-old north-east Englishman reached last season was in Nanjing. Like with Ding, Gary tends to perform well in venues where he has previously succeeded, as shown by his consecutive Scottish Open wins.

The top seed in the bottom quarter of the draw where Gary Wilson currently sits, is the world Champion Zhao Xintong, who is finding the crown heavy.

Nevertheless, Wilson has beaten Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Allen, John Higgins, and Shaun Murphy all in China this season, so currently he is the standout selection from quarter 4 to win the International Championship.

Check out the rest of our Snooker Betting Tips over at Betfred Insights.