{"id":427045,"date":"2026-05-05T20:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/427045\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:40:09","slug":"wu-yize-cements-chinas-status-as-premier-snooker-force-as-younger-generation-takes-over-world-snooker-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/427045\/","title":{"rendered":"Wu Yize cements China\u2019s status as premier snooker force as younger generation takes over | World Snooker Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps of all the noise emanating from Wu Yize\u2019s historic victory in the World Snooker Championship<\/a> final on Monday evening, it was 12 simple words from the godfather of Chinese snooker that meant the\u00a0most.<\/p>\n

For the second successive year, China has a world champion<\/a> in the sport the nation has taken to its heart, with Wu emulating Zhao Xintong\u2019s win<\/a> 12 months earlier by defeating Shaun Murphy in one of the great finals. But perhaps none of it would be possible without Ding Junhui laying the groundwork over the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

Ding, a beaten world finalist 10 years ago who was never quite able to take that decisive step, wrote on Weibo: \u201cThis is not just a breakthrough, rather our era is approaching now!\u201d Gone are the days of Ding being China\u2019s sole flag-bearer for the sport; there are now five Chinese players in the top 16.<\/p>\n

Two of them, Zhao and Wu, are in the top four, and Ding\u2019s talk of new eras beginning for snooker feels pertinent on multiple fronts, not just for the sport in China. Yes,\u00a0there is now no doubt the country snooker has been determined to crack for years finally has a footing as the premier force of the green baize.<\/p>\n

But there is also a gear shift towards a younger generation as well as an influx from Asia. Wu became the fourth consecutive first-time winner at the Crucible, the first time such a sequence has happened. The ages of Kyren Wilson, Luca Brecel, Zhao and Wu when they lifted the trophy? 32, 29, 28 and 22 respectively.<\/p>\n

Dominated by names such as Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams for so long, perhaps snooker is now finally a young man\u2019s game. There are green shoots of hope on this side of the world too; the 19-year-old Stan Moody and 20-year-old Liam Pullen made their Crucible debuts this year, as did the first player from Poland: Antoni Kowalski, 22.<\/p>\n

But this year\u2019s beaten finalist believes European snooker is already losing ground on China given the widespread investment the sport has had in Asia, that was kickstarted by Ding\u2019s emergence 20 years ago. \u201cIt\u2019s been a wonderful tournament for newcomers,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n

Zhao Xintong was crowned China\u2019s first world champion 12 months ago. Photograph: George Wood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two Yorkshire lads [Moody and Pullen] conducted themselves really well and have great futures ahead of them. But you can see with the investment that the Chinese government have made into snooker in the last 10 or 15 years the fruits of it now; Xintong last year, Wu this year \u2013 it\u2019s great for snooker out in China and it would be great to see that kind of investment here.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does UK snooker keep up? Government support helped secure a new long-term deal for the world championship at the Crucible but the man tasked with developing the sport admits there is more work to be done, and more support to be sought.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe talent is in a really good shape in England but what we need is to keep expanding our facilities,\u201d Jason Ferguson, chair of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker<\/a> Association, said before the tournament. \u201cThe biggest risk to players in England is the loss of facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of living is high and clubs are fighting to stay open. We\u2019re seeing how easy it is to close a snooker club down and turn it into a block of flats. The government has shown the greatest respect to this sport of all-time with the investment into the Crucible. It\u2019s an important step in having the respect of the right people to make the sport thrive in this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a national sport of the country in China and we\u2019ve seen who has come out of the national academy: Zhao Xintong. The system works. But we now need a national academy here in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wu\u2019s win created headlines around the world, not just in China. With a younger crop of stars in its midst, snooker seems well placed for a bright future. The challenge for the sport closer to its historic home is to ensure it can keep up with a wave of Asian talent in the years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perhaps of all the noise emanating from Wu Yize\u2019s historic victory in the World Snooker Championship final on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-427045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}