The new world champion is the fourth consecutive first-time winner and the UK game faces a challenge to keep up with investment in Asia
P
erhaps of all the noise that emanated 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 after defeating Shaun Murphy in one of the great finals. But there is a fair argument none of this 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 the final and most decisive step, took to the social media platform Weibo and wrote: “This is not just a breakthrough, rather our era is approaching now!” Gone are the days with Ding being China’s sole flag bearer for the sport; there are now five Chinese players in the top 16.
