At present, the World Championship, the most important event of the year, is in full swing. For Chinese player Yan Bingtao, who has reached the top 8, he has not only become the only one of the four Chinese players participating in this world championship who is still attacking the championship, but also inadvertently created an interesting record in this world championship, becoming the only one in the top 8.
Winning the snooker World Championship has always been the dream of Chinese snooker players, and in recent years, under the influence and promotion of China's snooker brother Ding Junhui, the Chinese snooker sport has developed rapidly. In addition to Ding Junhui, there are also excellent young players such as Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao. But it is a pity that even Ding Junhui, at his peak, failed to win the world championship. This has also become a collective dream of the current Chinese snooker players, and it is also the common aspiration of Chinese fans.
At this World Championship, including Ding Junhui, more than 20 Chinese players participated in the World Championship qualification tournament. However, only Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian passed the test of the qualifiers in the end. Together with Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao, who directly entered the main tournament as seeded players, these two players shouldered the hopes of the fans to impact the world championship. But after two rounds of matches, only One Chinese player remained, Yan Bingtao, among the four Chinese players. Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian, two qualifiers, were eliminated directly in the first round. Although Zhao Xintong, who had high hopes from the fans, passed the first round, in the second round of competition, he was taught a good lesson by the opponent, after all, the game is not only offensive.
And Yan Bingtao, a post-00 player who was not optimistic before the game, performed very amazingly. It is not that Yan Bingtao is not strong, but his opponent in the second round is too strong, for the world's top player Selby. But Yan Bingtao, who was not optimistic, played a very wonderful performance in the second round of the match with Selby, successfully defeating his opponent to enter the top 8, retaining the hope of impacting the world championship.
Yan Bingtao entered the top 8, which also ensured that the World Championship could also be called the World Championship. Some fans joked that after watching the top 8 list of the World Championships, if it were not for the appearance of Yan Bingtao's name, they thought that this was a British event, and non-local players could not participate.
The game has been played until now, and the top 8 are all out. In the previous round of 32, there were 4 Chinese players, 2 Thai players and 1 each from Iran, Australia and Belgium. The rest of the players are all local players, including 13 England players, 6 Welsh players and 4 Scotland players, a total of 23 players. At that time, the proportion of local players reached 71.875%. After the first round, except for 2 Chinese players, 1 Thai player and 1 Australian player, the rest of the players are local players, including 7 English players, 3 Scottish players, 2 Welsh players, and the proportion of local players has reached 75%.
What I didn't expect was that in the top 8, there was only One non-local player left, Yan Bingtao. The rest of the players include 4 England players, 2 Scottish players and 1 Welsh player. Yan Bingtao inadvertently became the façade of the World Championships, becoming the only one in the top 8.
Some fans said that it is fortunate that Yan Bingtao performed well in the matchup with Selby, otherwise if Selby advanced, then this World Championship would truly become a British event. In fact, this also reflects the sport of snooker from one side, and it is indeed the players of the British Isles who have the advantage. However, the addition of Yan Bingtao also illustrates the development of china's snooker corps in recent years. In the future World Championships, the top 8, the top 4, and even the champions will see more Chinese players. Come on, Yan Bingtao, I hope you can finally stand on the highest podium.