Perhaps of all the noise emanating from Wu Yize’s historic victory in the World Snooker Championship final on Monday evening, it was 12 simple words from the godfather of Chinese snooker that meant the most.
For the second successive year, China has a world champion in the sport the nation has taken to its heart, with Wu emulating Zhao Xintong’s win 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.
Ding, a beaten world finalist 10 years ago who was never quite able to take that decisive step, wrote on Weibo: “This is not just a breakthrough, rather our era is approaching now!” Gone are the days of Ding being China’s sole flag-bearer for the sport; there are now five Chinese players in the top 16.
Two of them, Zhao and Wu, are in the top four, and Ding’s talk of new eras beginning for snooker feels pertinent on multiple fronts, not just for the sport in China. Yes, there 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.
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.
Dominated by names such as Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams for so long, perhaps snooker is now finally a young man’s 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.
But this year’s 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’s emergence 20 years ago. “It’s been a wonderful tournament for newcomers,” Murphy said.
“The 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 – it’s great for snooker out in China and it would be great to see that kind of investment here.”
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.
“The talent is in a really good shape in England but what we need is to keep expanding our facilities,” Jason Ferguson, chair of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said before the tournament. “The biggest risk to players in England is the loss of facilities.
“The cost of living is high and clubs are fighting to stay open. We’re 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’s an important step in having the respect of the right people to make the sport thrive in this country.
“We have a national sport of the country in China and we’ve 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.”
Wu’s 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.