Hong Kong’s next Marco Fu? Meet Cheung Ka-wai, the city’s new face on World Snooker Tour
- Cheung ‘can’t believe it’ after becoming only the fourth Hongkonger to earn a place on the elite World Snooker Tour
- He can play on the professional circuit for two years after winning WSF Championship, and calls it ‘the biggest achievement in my snooker life’
Hong Kong snooker player Cheung Ka-wai said he had fulfilled his dream after earning a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the first time.
He achieved the feat by winning the WSF Championship in Albania on Monday, whitewashing China’s Gao Yang 5-0 in the final to stay undefeated in his 10 matches, during which he lost a total of only four frames.
Cheung’s reward is to join the elite tour for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, making him only the fourth Hongkonger to do so, after Chan Wai-ming, Marco Fu Ka-chun and Andy Lee Chun-wai.
“I am really happy and excited to join the World Snooker Tour and I still can’t believe I can call myself a professional player,” Cheung said. “It’s every player’s dream and this is the biggest achievement in my snooker life.
“I have always wished to be a professional player, so I am really happy to make this happen.”
Although opportunities to significantly boost his earnings now await Cheung, the former IBSF U-18 world champion and 2022 World Games gold medallist remains concerned about the prospect of cue sports losing their entitlement to the highest tier of Hong Kong’s public funding.