For years, it was a matter of when, not if, a Chinese player would become world champion. It looked destined to be Ding Junhui, the country’s snooker standard-bearer for almost 20 years.
Ding has won the UK Championship and the Masters, and reached a Crucible final, but hasn’t been able to make that final history-making step. That allowed Zhao Xintong to sweep in and cement his place in snooker folklore. Ding’s status as the Chinese trailblazer is assured but he now has healthy competition from the likes of Xiao Guodong, Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui and recently crowned International Championship winner Wu Yize, as well as from Zhao.
WST photographer and journalist Tai Chengzhe has followed the growth of Chinese snooker every step of the way since the mid-1990s. He said: “I started watching one-hour highlight programmes of the European League on CCTV5 each week.
“At that time, it was very rare to see a snooker table in China, but this television programme became quite popular among young people and general sports fans. Snooker’s rise in China is closely linked to Ding Junhui’s success, but it also happened during the final years when television was still the dominant form of media.
“In China, any high-level international sporting event with television coverage tends to attract a large audience. When Chinese athletes achieve success in sports traditionally dominated by white players, it often inspires a strong sense of national pride.
“Without the emergence of several representative sports stars in the mid-2000s – and without Ding’s frequent appearances on national broadcasts – both his individual achievements and snooker’s overall visibility in China would have been much more limited.”
Ding’s victory in the 2005 China Open, when he was just 18, is seen as a watershed moment for snooker in the country.
Tai said: “Ding Junhui will always be remembered as the pioneer who brought snooker into the Chinese public. His name has accompanied an entire generation of fans over the past two decades and holds a deeply symbolic place in the sport’s history in China.”
Tai suspects Ding will have seen the bigger picture that Zhao’s Crucible win represented rather than felt envious that it wasn’t him. He added: “I don’t want to speculate on Ding Junhui’s personal feelings, but he will undoubtedly benefit from the emergence of a Chinese world champion at the professional level.
“Snooker’s popularity in China will remain strong in the short term. And from both professional and commercial perspectives, this achievement will bring increased attention not only to Ding himself but also to the new generation of Chinese players.
“If Zhao Xintong wants to achieve the same kind of enduring, iconic status, he will need to continue performing at a high level for many years. That said, he certainly has the potential to become the new leading figure for both players and fans in the foreseeable future.”
The Chinese player in form heading to York is arguably Wu, following his impressive 10-6 over John Higgins in the final of the International Championship. His run to the final in Nanjing included a phenomenal comeback victory over world No.1 Judd Trump in the last 16. Trump led 4-0 at mid-session interval, only for Wu to reel off six frames in a row to triumph 6-4.
“Honestly, it feels unbelievable,” said Wu after the final. “After beating Judd Trump, I started thinking about the whole journey and it was surreal.
“I think one of the good things was that I started both sessions of the final really well. Having a lead helped me to relax. Everything went pretty much the way I wanted. It has been a long wait since reaching the final at the Scottish Open and the English Open last year.
“At times, I honestly felt quite desperate, but deep down I always believed I had the ability to win a title. Every day I kept thinking about it. I had a strong will to lift a trophy. That belief carried me through this week.”
Wu’s win made him one of the seeds for the UK Championship. He plays qualifier Michael Holt in the first round on Sunday evening.
