China’s new snooker superstar Yan Bingtao has been catapulted into snooker superstardom overnight with his win in the 2021 Masters on Sunday. The comparisons to China’s first elite player Ding Junhui have come thick and fast for the world No 11. Ding, 33, burst onto the scene with his China Open win in 2005, aged 18. He followed that with victory at the UK Championship a year later and then the Masters in 2011 in a career that also saw him rise to world No 1 in 2014. It is safe to say that Ding casts a long shadow on Chinese snooker and he has done for a long time. “Ding is a legend for China,” Yan said in November 2017. “It would be so hard for anyone to achieve more than he did for the modern day young players. All I can do is be the best Yan Bingtao.” That is what Yan said at the Oppo International Championship in Daqing, China, in November 2017. Yan, then 17, powered into the finals by beating John Higgins, the man who he would beat in the Masters for his first triple crown win. Yan Bingtao tipped to be China’s first world champion While Higgins has now called Yan a “definite world champion”, it was another man who the 17-year-old beat that week on the outskirts of Beijing that has the highest praise for the new Masters champion. Ronnie O’Sullivan backed Yan to be the first Chinese winner of the world championships ahead of Ding. “I think he’s got more chance of doing it because he’s got a lot more time on his side,” O’Sullivan said. Yan might appear to have become an overnight star with his first Masters win but it has been a long time coming, He won the World Cup for China in 2015, aged 15, playing alongside Zhou Yuelong – coincidentally, the Chinese pair beat Higgins and Stephen Maguire in the final. Yan would beat both in his Masters run. That same year, Yan beat Shaun Murphy in the Champion of Champions. Comeback kid Yan beats Higgins to win debut Masters Yan qualified for the 2015-16 tour by winning the IBSF World Amateur Championship. He had to defer his card for a year as he could not get a UK visa, staying in China to finish school and joining the 2016-17 tour. When he finally went pro, becoming the first player on tour born in the year 2000, Yan was named rookie of the year. He reached the final of his first ranking event at the 2017 Northern Ireland Open, becoming the youngest ranking finalist. Yan won his first ranking tournament at the 2019 Riga Masters, the youngest player since Ding won the UK in 2006, and reached the final of the 2020 Players Championship where he lost to world No 1 Judd Trump. “I’m extremely excited.” Yan told World Snooker ahead of making his Masters debut. “I’ve grown up watching the best players compete at the Masters and I never thought I would be one of them. “To be in the event is a great achievement in itself and I’m looking forward to playing.” When will Chinese snooker players be in the frame for biggest prizes? His excitement was matched with a confidence that would be proved true over the course of the tournament. “If I play with a good attitude and produce my best form, then I know I can beat anyone.”
