Seeds set for Championship knockout stage
filed Sunday, September 6, 2026. 4:45pm PT/USA
The group stage of the 2026 United States National Snooker Championship has been successfully completed, with four of the seeded players winning their groups, which included defending champion Renat Denkha, and advancing directly into Round 2 of the knockout stage.
The seeded players joining Denkha as a group winner are the number three seed and twice former champion Ajeya Prabhakar from Group C, the number six seed and three-times former champion Sargon Isaac from Group F, and the number seven seed and 2022 champion Steven Wong from Group G.
All seeded players have advanced from their groups as the 2023 champion Daren Taylor secured a vital 2-0 final group match victory over Arafat Amat to claim the runner-up spot in Group B, and he will now face the third place player from Group F, Yi Dai, in Round 1 at the PABSA Academy.
The number four seed Andy McCloskey defeated Pravin Patel 2-0 in his final Group D tie to secure a Round 1 match at California Snooker against Zia Sheik, who finished in third place in Group H.
Tom Limor claimed second spot in Group E as the number five seed overcome Mohammad Rahim Mohammadi 2-1 in their final group match, and he will now face Ruicheng Huang, who finished in third place in Group A, in Round 1 at California Snooker.
Hasanain Alsultani defeated Nitin Mehta 2-0 in his final Group H match to wrap up Group H in second place, and the number eight seed will now take on Mohammadi in Round 1 at California Snooker.
All Round 1 matches at both the PABSA Academy and California Snooker commence at 4pm.
The group draws, match schedule and results can all be followed in real time by visiting the 2026 United States National Snooker Championship tournament page on Cloud Snooker, which is the USSA's official tournament running and scoring system platform.
