PEGGY LI will next month become the first Asian ref to oversee a Triple Crown title match.

The Chinese official has been given the honour of taking charge of the UK Championship Final in York on Sunday December 6.

No-nonsense Li has refereed at the World Championship in Sheffield before and been involved in televised finals in her home country.

But this will be the pinnacle of her career so far – in the sport’s second most prestigious ranking event final.

Li – a former player and sport psychology student – said: “When I heard the news I was very honoured.

“This might be one of the major events of my refereeing career. I’m very excited.

“It’s going to be a special experience for me and I’m really looking forward to it.

“I wasn’t a referee initially. I was a player.

“Then I found out that to compete in the national events in Australia I needed to apply for citizenship, not just residency.

“China is my home and I wouldn’t change my passport for a sport, even though it is a sport I love.

“I still wanted to travel to tournaments with my teammates and I figured out a way to do that was refereeing.

“As refs, we aren’t the stars, we are there to assist the players. Of course with it being a Triple Crown final it will be different as it is different for the players, too. It will be a special moment for me, but once I get used to my surroundings I will be fine.”

Mark Selby is the defending UK Champion after beating Judd Trump 10-8 in the 2025 final.

Several women have been involved in the climax to the sport’s three biggest tournaments on the calendar – the World Championship, UK Championship and Masters.

Michaela Tabb was the first woman to referee the World Championship final, which she did twice, in 2009 and 2012, the latter year being Ronnie O’Sullivan’s fourth Crucible crown.

Bulgarian Desislava Bozhilova was at the helm for the 2025 World final when Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams 18-12 to become the first Chinese world champion.