STUART BINGHAM says he will be honoured this week to play his part in the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Shanghai Masters.
Bullrun won the event in 2014 with a 10-3 final victory over Mark Allen and he was asked to take part in promotional work for its special occasion this summer.
The event will run from September 19-25 and Bingham starts on Wednesday (Sep 21) against Wales’ world No 39 Jamie Jones.
World No 2 Bingham said: “I was lucky enough this year to do some promotional work with the Shanghai Amateur Masters when I was invited out to China to see some of their emerging players.
“It’s the tournament’s tenth anniversary and they are going to be giving a little gift to those who have won here, I believe.
“The last couple of years here have been really kind to me and I hope I can carry my form on from Thailand to this event.”
Bingham arrived in China on the back of his best showing of the season at the Six Reds World Championship in Thailand at the start of September.
The Basildon-based star beat Babar Masih (5-1), Darren Morgan (5-2), James Wattana (5-1), Ryan Day (5-0), Wayne Brown (5-2), Mark Williams (6-5), Dominic Dale (6-1), Akani Songsermsawad (7-4) and Stephen Maguire (7-1) before an 8-7 defeat to Ding Junhui in the final.
Bingham had his hand on the table in the deciding frame before a miss on a tricky pink allowed Ding to make a match-winning clearance.
Bingham, who took home a useful £18,000 runners-up prize, said: “It was no good being 35 up with 35 on because with how big the pockets were you could not put it safe because you could pot things down the rails there.
“How I played all week was that is was not worth being 37 up with one red left – you had to be 40 ahead with one red remaining, so they needed at least two snookers.
“I think I won a frame against someone when I was 42 behind with one red left, so that means you have to kill your opponent off there when you can.
“But I played well throughout the tournament. It was a tight win against Williams but then a good win over Dominic and a tough battle against Akani.
“I played exceptionally well against Maguire and hit a bit of form but had to battle back against Ding and then didn’t take my chance.
“But a few people have said I looked more focused and I think something clicked on the practice table before I went out there – and I now need to take that into Shanghai.”
