In the early morning of December 6, the British Championship of the World Snooker Tour ended the final competition, and China's 24-year-old Zhao Xintong beat Belgian famous Brechel 10-5, achieving a breakthrough of zero career ranking champions. This big breakthrough turned out to be in the British Championship, one of the three major competitions of the Grand Slam, which is indeed impressive. Once upon a time, when talking about Chinese snooker, we must mention Ding Junhui and Fu Jiajun, two famous generals, after all, for a long time in the past, the two of them represented the highest level and achievement status of China's snooker sport, especially Ding Junhui, who is definitely the pioneer and leader of Chinese snooker athletes, including Zhao Xintong, a large number of young talents, almost all of whom were influenced by him and embarked on the road of snooker.
Snooker sports really began to popularize and receive attention in China, Ding Junhui is indispensable, from the 2005 China Open card identity "one black to the end" to win the first ranking championship, the world snooker began to frequently have Chinese athletes, including earlier than Ding Junhui to the professional stage of the famous Hong Kong star Fu Jiajun, the two of them began to gradually become the twin stars of China's snooker, but in terms of achievements and achievements, as a latecomer Ding Junhui made higher and greater breakthroughs. In the past 18 years, Ding Junhui has won 14 ranking championships, not only among Chinese players, but also in the top rankings in professional competitions. Fu Jiajun followed, also won 3 ranking championships.
However, with the passage of time, Ding Junhui and Fu Jiajun began to have ups and downs in their state, including their physical health, which also began to affect their play and performance. Fu Jiajun fell into eye disease two years ago, coupled with other physical problems, he once withdrew from the professional arena, fell into an indefinite offseason, and although he was given an official wild card this season, he has not returned so far. And Ding Junhui has also undergone great changes in his personal mentality, and his performance in recent seasons has plummeted, except for the entry of the 2019 British Championship champion, he has performed badly in most other competitions. After the British Championship, Ding Junhui's world ranking has dropped sharply to 27th, becoming a new career low in the past 16 years.
In fact, in the past decade, behind Ding Junhui and Fu Jiajun, a large number of Chinese legion players have embarked on a professional path through their own efforts, including Liang Wenbo, Tian Pengfei and other backbones who are still fighting alongside Ding Junhui. In addition, a group of the new generation, including Yan Bingtao, Zhou Yuelong, Zhao Xintong, Yuan Sijun, Lu Haotian and others, they have grown rapidly and are active in the professional arena all year round, and the number of the Chinese legion this season has expanded to 24, becoming a record high. With Yan Bingtao achieving a major breakthrough in the first two seasons, winning the Riga Masters championship and this year's Masters championship, the world ranking jumped to the top 16, becoming a new force after Ding Junhui. Now Zhao Xintong has once again won the British Championship champion, one of the three major competitions, catching up with Yan Bingtao's footsteps and continuing to strengthen the strength of the younger generation.
When the status and performance of Ding Junhui and Fu Jiajun, and even Liang Wenbo, Tian Pengfei and others continue to decline, Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong, Zhou Yuelong and others are trying to move forward and have a good performance, this is a fortunate thing for China's snooker, and finally can no longer rely only on Ding Junhui, Fu Jiajun and a few others, and have been holding the banner of the Chinese Legion. Snooker sport is the need for fresh blood to continue the glory, if blindly "nibbling on the old", it is destined to fall into a desperate situation, which is why this year's British Championship final has received unprecedented attention, because the two post-95 players will meet the final, completely breaking the previous long-term British Isles players, and even the monopoly of post-70s and post-80s players. Zhao Xintong, the future can be expected, look forward to his work with Yan Bingtao and others to open up the next snooker "China's leading era".