Early this morning Beijing time, the snooker European Masters championship battle came to an end. Fan Zhengyi, a 21-year-old Chinese teenager, won the decider, beating "Rocket" O'Sullivan 10-9 on aggregate to win the ranking championship for the first time in his career.
Beijing Gymnasium, Beijing, China, July 16, 2017. 2017 IBSF World U21 Snooker Championship Final Men's Division. Fan Zhengyi won the championship
Born in 2001, Fan Zhengyi finished third in the Junior Division at the 2009 National Junior and Women's Snooker Open. In this European Masters, he passed the hurdles without paying attention before the game and advanced to the final as a dark horse. The world's 80th-ranked young player looked at O'Sullivan, the world's No. 2 legend, in the final, and the two sides looked very different.
But in the game, Fan Zhengyi played well and did not fall behind at all. The game scene was always glued, and it was scored equally many times. From 1-1, 2-2, 4-4, 6-6, to 8-8, 9-9, and finally into a 10-win tiebreaker in 19 sets.
Fan Zhengyi
In the 19th set, O'Sullivan intended to find the bottom bag red ball through a long platform shot, but the shot deviated slightly, and instead left the mother ball under the table and gave Fan Zhengyi a mobile phone meeting. The youngster did not make a mistake to send the situation, he played a single 92 points to achieve a super score to win the decider, 10-9 to win the championship.
This was the first time fan Zhengyi's professional snooker career reached the final of the ranking tournament, achieving the first ranking championship, and he also became the fifth Chinese mainland player to win the snooker ranking championship after Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo, Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong. The 80,000 pounds of the European Masters championship prize money also greatly improved Fan Zhengyi's world rankings, leaping from 80th to 31st, surpassing his predecessor Ding Junhui.
German Masters, Zhao Xintong (left) and Yan Bingtao
In the past year, China's young snooker talents have shown a strong upward momentum with a group posture.
In the final of the German Masters in January 2022, two Chinese players Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong met in the final. In the end, Zhao Xintong defeated Yan Bingtao 9-0 and won the championship. Now, Fan Zhengyi has defeated snooker legend O'Sullivan to win the European Masters.
China Snooker can look forward to the future!