Interview with Si Jiahui: On the same path as Ding Junhui, Dad let him be down-to-earth in the darkest moment of Chinese billiards

Chao News client reporter Li Wenyao

If you get rich overnight, you may need a lottery ticket. But overnight success may only take one game. These words are particularly appropriate on the Zhuji boy Si Jiahui.

At the 2023 World Snooker Championship in April this year, after four Chinese teammates were out one after another, Si Jiahui, who entered the main event with the lowest ranking, youngest age and least seniority, successively cut Murphy, Milkins, McGill and other players under the horse, becoming the third Chinese player after Fu Jiajun and Ding Junhui to advance to the top four of the World Championship.

On July 11, Scarstar's 21st birthday, looking back at the game two months ago, he remembered the not too big venue of Cruzburg, remembered the lesson of "weak defense", remembered the feeling of blood boiling when playing against the snooker masters, but hoped that all this could be turned around: "The World Championship is just a node for me, it is not the end." At the moment, I just want to do my best to play every ball in front of me. ”

At the age of 11, he went south to Guangdong to practice

Take the same path as Ding Junhui

The reporter first met Si Jia Hui and his father Si Peijun at the 2018 Hangzhou Snooker Six Red Ball Points Ranking Finals. At that time, Jiahui, who was learning to play in Guangdong, brought some baby fat, and the idol was "Rocket" O'Sullivan, and he didn't say much after playing, more expressed by his father Speijun. Now five years later, Si Jiahui, who is about eight meters old, stands in front of reporters again, fades a little shyness, and talks eloquently, "When I first returned to Zhuji, people who may have come several times a day to interview people are only slightly better now." ”

In 2018, Chao News reporters met Si Jia Hui for the first time

In 2002, Si Jia Hui was born in an ordinary family in Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province. When he was 10 years old, his father Speijun opened a small billiard room, and the first thing Si Jia Hui did after school every day was to go to the billiard room to watch others play.

A year later, Si Jia Hui won the runner-up in a junior nine-ball tournament, which made Si Pei Jun see the child's billiards talent and potential, and he decided to take Jiahui south to Guangdong to learn ball.

Did the Si father and son embark on the career path of snooker make you think of the "Ding father and son"? Ding Junhui, the banner of Chinese snooker, moved his family to Guangdong to practice billiards when he was 11 years old. Si Jia Hui first entered the public eye on the first day of the 2016 China Professional Snooker Tour Fuzhou main event, when the 14-year-old defeated the already famous Ding Junhui 4-2, causing Ding Junhui to be knocked out in the first round.

Scarlet and dad Speijun

"That win was such a fluke, I don't think I won him." Including this time, Si Jia Hui and Ding Junhui have played each other four times, the last three times in the professional arena.

"The first time was when I led 3-0, I underestimated the enemy, and he won 4-3; The second time because of the previous foreshadowing, I also played a little cautiously, and finally won 4-2; The most recent time was in 2022, when I lost to him in a tiebreaker. Si Jia Hui said with a smile, in the snooker circle, just rely on strength to speak, the ball is played beautifully, no matter how young you are, the other party will cast an admiring gaze.

Scarlet will be in awe at first by his opponent's legendary status and numerous titles, but once he fights, he will have the idea that "he can win". What he likes the most is the thrill of billiards entering the hole, and when the hand is smooth, the consecutive goals make him very happy.

More than a hundred thousand fans overnight

He wanted to return to calm

In 2012, he contacted snooker, went to Guangzhou in 2013 to learn football, and became a professional snooker player in 2019 to play abroad, counting up, Sijiahui's snooker career has just ushered in the first decade.

Although the 2023 World Championship semi-finals lost to Belgium's Brecel, the early morning match still attracted millions of golfers to watch online, and even if they did not make it to the final, snooker fans around the world remembered the name "Scarlett".

Si Jia Hui at the World Championships

Overnight, his life has changed drastically: social platforms suddenly flooded with hundreds of thousands of fans, the originally empty comment area, some people pointed out, some people posted photos, some people cheered him on..." In fact, I don't like this feeling of being famous very much, no one knows about playing badly, so it's very relaxed, and now I feel that many people are paying attention, I have to play better to live up to everyone's expectations, there is invisible pressure." ”

Not only has online attention, but also offline fans have come to admire, Si Jia Hui returned to Zhuji during this time, come to sign and take photos of snooker fans in an endless stream, "Signature photos are fine, but playing tricks can't be." Just like meeting Si Jia Hui for the first time five years ago, he has a sense of calmness that does not belong to his peers, he humbly is a "person who has no skills other than playing", "maybe compared to my peers, my circle is a little smaller, but the survival skills are stronger." ”

Speaking of life, Jiahui's eyes lit up. Unlike the previous years when he loved to play "Glory of Kings" in China and became a professional golfer abroad, in life, Jiahui would play "League of Legends Genting Game" to relax, and would also watch anime and Korean dramas, "I watched the very popular "Dark Glory" some time ago. Staying abroad for many years, his "Shaoxing stomach" has not changed, he misses the stickleback fish made by his father, and even fell in love with eating snail powder before the World Championships. During this time when returning home, Jiahui gained more than ten pounds, "The room for ordering food is bigger, and Shaoxing has changed so much that I almost can't recognize it, and I feel that everything I eat is delicious." ”

The darkest hour of Chinese billiards

Dad gave him the words "down-to-earth"

After Si Jia Hui became the final four of the World Championships, many domestic fans called him the star of Chinese snooker, because at that time, Chinese snooker was experiencing the "darkest moment": affected by the match-fixing incident, a total of 10 Chinese players, including Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao, were temporarily suspended, which also led to a large number of Chinese players absent from the World Championships.

Many of them had dealt with Scarlet when he was fighting abroad. "Their skills are absolutely top-notch." Si Jia Hui said that during the game, there are also foreign players who will ask about their situation, but do not look at the rest of the Chinese players with "colored glasses": "Snooker is still a place where strength speaks." ”

In fact, as early as the years when he had the idea to train Jiahui to his career, his father Si Peijun has been instilling in Si Jia Hui that the two red lines on the career path cannot be touched: "In the UK, it is legal to enter a casino at the age of 18, so first of all, you must not touch gambling in such an environment, and secondly, you cannot gamble." Si Pei Jun told Jiahui that in professional-level sports events, as long as he works hard, it is normal to win or lose.

"Professional snooker is his job, and he and I treat him with a normal heart, not to think too highly of him because of a game, just step by step and down-to-earth." Spei said. After the World Championships, Jiahui signed an agency and began to get involved in commercial competitions, and then he will face the upcoming China Masters and ranking tournaments. ”

The cauldron was broken

In fact, both father and son took big risks

After Si Jia Hui became popular because of the World Championships, most of the fans who came to him were admirers or golfers who were looking forward to competition, and his father Si Peijun became the object of many parents' advice.

Just like the significance of Ding Wenjun to Ding Junhui, Si Peijun is not only an enlightener, a leader, but also his strongest backing when learning football everywhere in China. Si Jia Hui may only remember a few key goals and important points in his game, but Speijun, who has never missed a single son game, can easily tell the score, key balls and wonderful moments of the game.

With Ding Junhui in front and Si Jia Hui in the back, people can't help but wonder, is the road of professional snooker players easy to take? Is there a snooker teenager like Si Jia Hui in Hangzhou?

Photo of Scarlet during a domestic match

Five years have passed since he last saw Jia Hui's father, when he sat on the sidelines, watching the 15-year-old Jia Fai play tricks with a player more than twice his age, serious and serious, like a military master who pointed out tactics behind his back.

And now, standing next to his son, who is already a head taller than himself, Spei Jun seems amiable, he will discuss the practice time with Si Jia Hui, and he is full of pride in the face of this son whose excellent value exceeds expectations.

From the very beginning, Si Peijun did not leave a way back for Jiahui, and back then, he went south to Guangdong to break the cauldron and sink the boat: "You can't be indecisive, so I didn't want to leave a way back for him at the beginning, if you want to practice, you can practice well." ”

Although there was already a precedent of "father and son" such as Ding Wenjun and Ding Junhui in China at that time, if he really embarked on the road of learning football, Si's father described it as "groping for progress". "Jiahui grew up eating a hundred family meals, and at that time, as long as we heard that there were good teachers in China, we would go to learn, often learning here for a few months, and there for half a year, to find a path that suits him. Before and after, there were at least seven or eight masters. ”

Looking back now, what Si Peijun misses most is the time when he and Jiahui learned football in Guangdong. "I rented a house nearby, cooked him for the logistics, and he concentrated on practice, the days are simple, but at least the children can see it every day." Si Peijun said with a smile.

Scarlett learns to play

So after Si Jia Hui became a professional golfer and went abroad in 2019, unlike his son who kept advancing, Si Dad's time was suddenly empty. "In the 6 years of studying football in China, my focus is on him, so I am a little confused and a little out of touch with society."

Since then, Si Peijun has developed the habit of watching games with jet lag, sleeping during the day and guarding the live broadcast in the middle of the night, chasing Jiahui's game without landing, although his son was only an unknown professional player at that time.

In addition to watching the playstyle, tactics, and mistakes of each game, Speijun also observed whether his son was doing well abroad in this way: Britain was humid, the newcomer Sijiahui was unsatisfied, and the acne on his face could not escape Speijun's eyes; One meter eighty-five Jiahui just went abroad to lose less than 120 pounds, Si Pei Jun saw it in his eyes and hurt in his heart. All he can do is trust his son and let him go well on the path that father and son have chosen together.

Calligraphy by Papa Si

He picked up the calligraphy hobby he liked when he was young, cultivated his body on weekdays, and only when watching Jiahui competitions, would he release his joy, anger and sorrow. "Calligraphy and snooker are similar in that they must be calm and steady, so sometimes I practice calligraphy at home, as if I am accompanying my son." During the World Championships, Si Pei remembers the match when Jiahui reached the final four, and Jiahui was 9-11 behind in the early morning, and won three sets in a row, "At that time, the aunt who happened to be engaged in hygiene came, and I couldn't help but send her red envelopes, which was so happy." ”

The snooker career path is too difficult

The talent is not high, and it is not recommended to try it easily

In fact, Si Jia Hui's 10-year snooker career, Speijun has always been his strongest backing. Last year, Scarfia Billiards Club landed in Zhuji, and the opening time was the second day of Scarfar's birthday. "Jiahui has always told me that opening a billiard room is not profitable, so there is no need to work so hard, but he doesn't know, I opened the billiard room so that when he comes back, there is a place to practice ball, and when he has a game, the local golfers who care about him can have a place to watch the ball together."

There is a big TV in the Scarlet Billiards Club, where Si's father watches his son play the World Championships

Because it is named after Jiahui, after Si Jiahui became famous, in addition to the admiring golfers, there were many parents who came to learn from Si Peijun, "Now that he has scored, many people may think that the path I chose for him is very far-sighted, but if I don't get ahead, I may live my life like this." So children do not have extremely high talent, try not to go down this path. ”

In this regard, the reporter also contacted Chu Jun, secretary general of the Hangzhou Billiards Association. "There are not many children in Hangzhou who learn snooker now, firstly, the sport is more difficult, more time is invested, and secondly, career prospects are not necessarily good, so most of them are hobbies." He said that at present, there are international snooker colleges in Beijing, Guangzhou and Yushan, Jiangxi, and there are many young students. A small number of them give up their studies and practice full-time, "Like all sports, head athletes are always a very small minority, so we do not recommend giving up their studies and taking a career path." ”

The club has some honors that Jiahui has received

Although there are not many top professional athletes, in the past two years, the popularity of snooker has increased greatly, and many new ball rooms have been opened, more than twice as many as before, "because snooker sports are indeed more vibrant, do not require a lot of physical strength, are relatively safe and easy to popularize, although the players who take the professional route are similar to before, but the audience is increasing." ”

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