Chinese players prepare for the World Youth Championship ahead of time
The 2017 IBSF World Youth Snooker Championship is still two weeks away. Recently, 8 Chinese players who participated in the U21 group of this tournament have gathered at the CBSA World Snooker Academy and started the intense pre-match training.
IBSF World Youth Snooker Championship is an international competition for outstanding young snooker players under the age of 21 around the world. It is held annually. In addition to the highest honors and generous bonuses, the most attractive thing about this event is that the U21 champions can qualify for the World Snooker Pro Tournament in the next two seasons. In 2012 and 2013, two IBSF World Youth Snooker Championships were held in Wuxi and Beijing, China. Chinese players Lu Haotian and Lu Ning won the championships respectively, and started their careers with this.
The 2017 IBSF World Youth Snooker Championship is divided into three groups, namely U21, U18 and U21 women’s group. Among them, there are 8 Chinese players participating in the U21 group. They are Fan Zhengyi, Luo Honghao, Zhang Jiankang, Geng Mingqi, Wu Shengguang from CBSA World Snooker Academy, and Zhongqing ranked 6th, 8th and 10th. Pang Junxu, Chang Bingyu and Li Zhen, these 8 players have gathered in the CBSA World Snooker Academy and started training.
The eight Chinese players in the U21 category of this tournament are all participating for the first time without exception. For most of them, this is the first time they have hit the world snooker professional qualifications. Li Zhen, currently ranked 10th in the China Youth League, is the oldest of the eight players. Li Zhen, born in 1996, is facing the situation of overage, which means that this is the first and last time Li Zhen has participated in the IBSF World Youth League. The snooker tournament is of great significance.
In the Asian Youth Championship held in India two months ago, Fan Zhengyi, Luo Honghao, Yuan Sijun and Zhang Jiankang went to the competition. After the elimination of Fan Zhengyi and Yuan Sijun in the finals, Yuan Sijun finally won the championship. For the season’s professional qualifications, Fan Zhengyi ranked second. And this time is also Fan Zhengyi’s closest time to a professional match.
Last month, Zhang Jiankang and Geng Mingqi went to the UK to participate in the Qschool qualification for the professional competition. Unfortunately, the two Chinese players who landed in Qschool for the first time failed to fulfill their wishes and returned home.
With the orderly progress of relevant preparations, the 2017 IBSF World Youth Snooker Championship has entered the countdown stage. This is the third time that China has hosted the IBSF World Youth Snooker Championship. After intense training, whether Chinese players can achieve success in this event, let us wait and see.
