Yan Bingtao and Cao Yupeng advance to the finals, the rise of China’s new generation

In the early morning of December 18, Beijing time, the 2017 Snooker Scottish Open ended in Glasgow. Although Cao Yupeng from Guangzhou, China was reversed by Robertson at 8-9 and regretted losing his first career championship, in just one month, he followed the post-00 teenager Yan Bingtao to the ranking finals, declaring that the new generation of China is rising strongly.

Only a month ago, among the players born 90 years later, only four had reached the ranking finals, and all of them were from Europe.

Michael White, Karen Wilson and McGill were all born in 1991, and their three peers can be called the “British Three Tigers”. At the 2015 Indian Open, Little White from Wales became the first post-90s who reached the final of the Ranking Tournament, and Little White won the championship as he wished. Later, England player Karen Wilson and Scotland’s McGill also appeared in the finals one after another, and successively won their own titles.

During this period, the Belgian rising star Brechel, born in 1995, made his first appearance in the ranking finals at the German Masters last year, and successfully won his first ranking championship at the Chinese Championships in August this year. Under the background of the three masters of 75 and the post-80s playing the leading role, the four post-90s are struggling to expand their living space.

But starting from the end of last month, the situation has quietly changed. At the Northern Ireland Open, the Chinese teenager Yan Bingtao, who was born after the 00s, scouted many top players and entered the final unstoppably. Although he eventually lost to Mark Williams, one of the 75 best players, and rubbed shoulders with his first ranking championship, he still set his own history as the youngest finalist. Previously, the record holder was Osha Leven.

At the just-concluded Scottish Open, Cao Yupeng from Guangzhou, China suddenly broke out without being optimistic. In the first round, he completed the first shot of his career with a score of 147 and became the fourth Chinese in the 147 club in the world. After that, he continued to pass the semi-finals, and he was 6-4 out of the world ranking 60 to beat Trump, who ranked third, and came to the ranking finals for the first time in his career. In the end, he won his first ranked runner-up in his career.

Within a month, two Chinese new generation players have entered the ranking finals consecutively, declaring that the Chinese new generation is rising strongly, thus breaking the previous dominance of the European new generation in one fell swoop.

In fact, this season the Chinese Army is ushering in a big outbreak. In addition to Cao Yupeng and Yan Bingtao, Li Xing, Zhou Yuelong, Lu Haotian, and even professional rookie Xu Si, who belong to the new generation, also set a new high in the top 4 rankings. It will not be too far for more Chinese players to enter the finals.