The 2021 Snooker World Grand Prix ended the first round of the main round of competition, and it is regrettable that Zhao Xintong, who has just won the British Championship, suffered an embarrassing situation of a round of travel after losing to Martin Gould after 6 rounds of fierce battles. This season's Masters champion Yan Bingtao found his form, defeating the famous Mark King and successfully advancing to the round of 16. For Zhao Xintong, the champion of the Xinke Ying Championship, after just experiencing a brilliant moment in his career, he was immediately out of the snooker Grand Prix and was still the number one seed in the tournament. This result allowed many media to find a breakthrough in public opinion, and the voices of doubt and ridicule were instantly transferred to Zhao Xintong.
After losing the first game, many people said that Zhao Xintong's championship in the British Championship may be a flash in the pan, and its comprehensive strength and stability need to be improved. On the contrary, the young player Yan Bingtao, although in the slump of the Scottish Open, but back to the Grand Prix, he used a hearty victory to sweep away the previous haze. Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao are the two best players in China's snooker players this season. Yan Bingtao won the Masters championship at the beginning of the year, while Zhao Xintong won the highest podium of the British Championship at the end of the season, and the two newcomers "one head and one tail" folded the gui, which also made many people predict that the two would be Ding Junhui's successors.
Previously, Ding Junhui, who seemed to be a bit depressed after his comeback, said that although his record was bad, his enthusiasm and dream for snooker were still there, and he did not think that it was time to say goodbye to the table. After him, among the new generation of players, Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong were the most optimistic. So, which of these two newcomers has more potential as a successor? In the final of the 2021 British Championship, Zhao Xintong defeated Luka Bressell to lift the championship trophy of the event for the first time in his career. With this result, Zhao Xintong's world ranking soared from 26th to 9th in an instant.
He has continuously surpassed Ding Junhui, Yan Bingtao and others to become the highest-ranked Chinese player. Zhao Xintong is currently 24 years old, his snooker career still has a long way to go, as long as he is willing to work hard, coupled with more international competition experience, the future can get more excellent results. O'Sullivan is very optimistic about Zhao Xintong's development prospects, he said that Zhao Xintong will surpass the honor won by Ding Junhui in the next five years. Yan Bingtao reversed Higgins in the final of the 2021 Snooker Masters and achieved the feat of winning the championship in the first competition.
Winning the Masters championship for the first time in his career, Yan Bingtao became the second Asian player to win the Masters after a gap of 47 years, and the first post-00s player in history to win the Masters championship trophy. Throughout the season, Yan Bingtao's play has been very stable, and almost every time there are multiple Chinese players in the game, he is the domestic player who has come to the end. Yan Bingtao once said in an interview that he has always taken Ding Junhui as the goal of his efforts, hoping to one day surpass his brother! With the growth of Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao, who are you more optimistic about becoming Ding Junhui's successor?
(Luo Treasurer)