10-ball world champion participates in Chinese billiards
The “Star Cup” National Chinese Billiards Ranking Tournament will kick off on May 23 in Zhengzhou, Henan. World No. 10 ball champion and currently ranked fifth Chinese Dutch player Xie Huijie will play in this tournament.
As an event intended to promote Chinese billiards to the world, attracting high-level foreign players to participate has become an important task of the “Star Cup” National Chinese Billiards Ranking Tournament. As the first stop of the National Chinese Billiards Ranking Tournament, Zhengzhou Station attracted world champion players, namely Xie Huijie from the Netherlands.
Xie Huijie was born in the Netherlands, but his parents are from Wenzhou, China. Xie Huijie’s parents immigrated to the Netherlands about 35 years ago and started their own catering business in the Netherlands. More interestingly, Xie Huijie’s sister was born in China. Xie Huijie and his brother were born after the family moved to the Netherlands.
Xie Huijie started playing billiards at the age of 17, and then played snooker and fancy pool for one or two years. At the age of 20, Xie Huijie fully transformed into fancy pool. At the age of 26, Xie Huijie officially became a professional player, and then won the runner-up in the 14.1 Championship that year and won the “official sponsor” of the Dutch government. Since then, Xie Huijie has often achieved good results in the European Championships. In 2011, Xie Huijie’s career ushered in another peak. In the final of the World No. 10 Ball Championship, Xie Huijie defeated Chinese player Fu Jianbo and won the final championship. In the just-concluded CBSA American 9-Ball International Open, Xie Huijie reached the quarter-finals. Coming to Zhengzhou this time, Xie Huijie has a double halo of “the current men’s No. 10 ball world champion” and “ranked fifth in the world.”
Although it has established itself in the field of fancy pool, Chinese billiards is a new attempt for Xie Huijie. This will be Xie Huijie’s first participation in a Chinese billiards competition. Before that, Xie Huijie only played Chinese billiards once in Beijing. Xie Huijie decided to participate in the competition for two reasons. “First of all, I have no other arrangements after finishing the Fangshan game. I have plenty of time. As a Chinese, I like to play games in China and let more Chinese audiences know me; Secondly, I was kindly invited by the organizer. I played a lot of star-style pool tables and felt very good. I think such a company is capable of hosting an excellent game. I also believe that the star has the ability to Chinese billiards has become a global game. So I decided to meet new challenges and try Chinese billiards as soon as possible.” Xie Huijie said.
At present, Xie Huijie has a preliminary understanding of Chinese billiards. Xie Huijie himself also summarized some essentials for playing Chinese billiards. Xie Huijie said, “The pockets of Chinese billiards are very small, which requires me to improve my accuracy; in addition, Chinese billiards Cubier is the same as Taney and Snooker, which requires me to make some adjustments when I move. But the balls are round, and I can play well as long as I make targeted training.”
Although he is full of confidence in himself, Xie Huijie’s opponents, who have been exposed to Chinese billiards for the first time, are too strong. Players such as Li Hewen, Shi Xin, Wang Yan, and Ma Zhiyu have already become famous in Chinese billiards. Therefore, when talking about the results of the first competition Xie Huijie chose to keep a low profile, “I don’t know the schedule of the game or who my opponent is. Only when I get to the stadium and play a few games can I set a goal for myself.”
