The newly released ranking of the average shot time of active snooker players of the World Taiwan Federation has attracted widespread attention. While the list doesn't give a full picture of the players' overall strength, it does reveal their style of play and characteristics.
The undisputed top of the list is "Rocket" O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan has won the title of "Rocket" for his amazing speed and skill, and his style of play has always attracted the attention of fans. In 1997, O'Sullivan completed the fastest 147 in history in just 5 minutes 08 seconds, with an average shot time of less than 9 seconds, a record that has not been broken to this day. His career average shot time is just 17.3 seconds, which is firmly at the top of the list.
He was followed by Zhao Xintong, the apprentice of "Rocket". Zhao Xintong's playing style is similar to that of his teacher, accurate and fast, and his performance on the court is beautiful and moving. However, compared with comprehensiveness, Zhao Xintong's defense and positioning are slightly insufficient, and they need to be strengthened urgently. He averaged 17.7 seconds.
The third is "Fast Gunner" Tachaiya from Thailand. Tachaiya and Zhao Xintong belong to a similar type of player, both of whom focus on attacking, but they are still deficient in defense, positioning and situation control. In addition, Tachaiya is mentally unstable and has made mistakes at a simple black ball, indicating that there is a problem with his mental quality. He averaged 18.7 seconds.
The fourth is the experienced Milkins. The veteran of O'Sullivan's age has been playing in snooker for 27 years, and after winning his first ranking title at the Gibraltar Open in 2022, he won his second ranking title at the Welsh Open this year. Milkins averaged 19.1 seconds.
In fifth place is Welsh teenager Jackson Perry, who has yet to win the title and has an average shot time of 19.2 seconds.
Sixth place was an amateur with an average shot time of 19.6 seconds.
In seventh place is Lisowski, who has won six runners-up but has yet to win the title. He needed to adjust his tactics and not focus on attack, and although his average shot time was only 19.9 seconds, it didn't seem to really help him win the championship.
In eighth, ninth and tenth place are Hamad Miah, Alfi Botton and Ben Mertens.
Trump was in 20th place with 21.2 seconds, and his performance was the most spectacular, but also showed relatively well-rounded strength.
Ding Junhui ranked 55th with 23.1 seconds. As a player with both offense and defense, Ding Junhui can be said to be at the top level, but he occasionally made mistakes in the selection of key balls, leaving opportunities for opponents.
Robertson was 60th with 23.4 seconds.
Selby, who has long been known as the "King of Grinding", is in 86th place, with an average shot time of 24.77 seconds.
Although the difference is not big in terms of numbers, it is mainly due to Selby's ability to control the pace of the game and slow down at the right time, so the average shot time is relatively long.