Elephant News reporter Zhu Liyan correspondent Jin Li
The 6th CBSA Chinese Billiards World Championship hosted by Xingpai ended the semi-finals of the men's and women's groups on the afternoon of December 14. In the men's group, Zhao Ruliang and Shen Shenyi, two "post-00s", will meet in the finals. In the women's group, Tang Chunxiao and Liu Xiazhi defeated their respective opponents and met in the final.
Zhao Ruliang and his master, 2017 world champion Yang Fan, staged a master-apprentice battle. In the first stage, Zhao Ruliang led 11-7, and in the second stage, Zhao Ruliang became more and more courageous, winning 21-10 and advancing to the finals of the World Championships for two consecutive years.
The other semi-final was played between Shen Shenyi and Xu Tianwei, two "dark horses". Shen Shenyi was born in 2004 and was an American billiards player who studied under the famous coach Shi Ming. Xu Tianwei was born in 1995 and is the protégé of legendary player Shi Xin. In the previous match, Shen Shenyi defeated 2015 champion Darren Appleton, while Xu Tianwei's men lost Chu Bingjie, Zhang Kunpeng and other famous players.
With a 10-8 lead in the first stage, Shen Shenyi was full of firepower in the second stage, constantly widening the gap, and finally defeated Xu Tianwei 21-13 and reached the World Championships final for the first time in his career.
In the semifinals of the women's group at the same time, Tang Chunxiao and Zhang Muyan, the two favorites to win the championship, met. Tang Chunxiao won three games in a row after 5 draws to establish the victory, Zhang Muyan tried to catch up, but Tang Chunxiao did not repeat the mistake of being reversed in the semifinals of the last World Championships, defeating the opponent 13-9. Liu Xiazhi played against Chinese Taipei star He Xinru and won easily 13-3.
It is worth mentioning that Zhao Ruliang, Shen Shenyi, Tang Chunxiao, and Liu Xiazhi have not won the World Championships before, which means that this year's Yushan will usher in two new kings.
On the evening of December 14, the finals of the men's and women's groups of the Chinese Billiards World Championships started at the same time, of which the men's group final took 81 rounds and 41 wins, and the women's group final was 37 rounds and 19 wins. According to the schedule, the final stage of the women's final starts at 14:30 on December 15, and the final stage of the men's final starts at 14:30 on December 16.