Ding Junhui Gives Honest Insight into the Rise of Chinese Snooker — And where the UK Must Improve

For years, snooker fans in the UK have been told about the unstoppable rise of the sport in China, an ever-growing wave of talent supposedly ready to overtake the traditional powerbases of Sheffield, Glasgow, and beyond. 

The narrative has often been one-sided: China booming, Britain fading. 

But Ding Junhui, the nation’s greatest snooker icon, offered a far more nuanced and honest picture of the reality on the ground.

According to Ding, the last few years haven’t been as straightforward as the West may believe. 

Snooker did not simply continue to rise unchecked. 

Instead, a rival cue sport, Chinese 8-ball, also known as heyball, surged in popularity, pulling young talent away from the green baize at exactly the time snooker was expected to hit its peak.

Snooker’s Unexpected Competitor

Ding revealed that over the last two to three years prior of Zhao Xintong’s recent world championship crowning, many emerging players in China have actively chosen to pursue heyball instead of snooker. 

Drawn by bigger domestic circuits, more frequent events, and greater financial opportunity without the need to travel abroad, talented prospects drifted away.

“In the past two, three years I think snooker in China it didn’t look like it was going quite well,” he told SportsBoom.co.uk. 

The volume of heyball tournaments became so substantial that even established names switched paths. Ding referenced Cao Yupeng specifically, a reminder that this wasn’t limited to juniors or amateurs.

“Chinese heyball if you know that, they have a lot of tournaments in China so players like Cao Yupeng have gone back to being pool players, so they have more choice to change their career. This time it wasn’t good.”

It was a concerning period for Chinese snooker. The talent existed, but it was being used elsewhere.

Xintong’s World Title: The Spark That Changed Everything

However, fortunes turned sharply, and it took a world champion to do it.

Xintong’s World Snooker Championship victory acted as a catalyst. 

The public fell in love with snooker again, participation began to rise, and tables once again filled with young players hoping to follow in his footsteps. 

Ding confirmed that he has witnessed the shift firsthand. To clarify the change, we asked if more players were returning to snooker and shelving their pool cues. 

“Yes, it looks like this,” Ding answered. 

“After Xintong won the world championship, snooker has become back on the line now.”

His victory wasn't an isolated boost; it was a cultural jolt. 

A New Generation Winning 

It’s not just Xintong waving the flag. A surge of Chinese winners across ranking events has helped re-ignite passion for the sport at home. 

Lei Peifan’s Scottish Open triumph, Xiao Guodong defending the Wuhan Open title, and most recently the International Championship victory by 20-year-old Wu Yize have all fed into a renewed national pride.

“I’m looking forward to more players like Wu [Yize], he won the International Championship. I love seeing more Chinese players win any tournaments, then we can keep snooker hitting in China.”

Ding’s excitement for the next generation is clear. In his view, Chinese snooker has entered a new era, one filled with talent, depth, and an increasingly competitive conveyor belt of teenage players ready to turn professional.

UK Talent Pools Run Thin

However, while China flourishes, Ding believes Europe is heading in the opposite direction. 

The contrast, in his assessment, is stark. Where China has hundreds of juniors ready to push through, the UK, once the world’s strongest talent factory, is producing only a handful.

“I don’t see much players from Europe or the UK. They have a few but not like in China, they can pick hundred young ones.”

“They are up with the levels and they’re like 12 or 13 years old. In the UK they are fewer, you see [Stan] Moody, or someone from Belgium [Ben Mertens].”

Ding is not dismissing European potential, he’s warning that without change, future world titles will increasingly move east. 

He wants more academies, more grassroots development, and more amateur events to give young British players the same pathway Chinese juniors now enjoy.

“I see a few new faces in young players, but it is only like two or three so it’s not good enough.”

“I think they need to improve more for young academies and give them more amateur tournaments.”

The sport is evolving. China’s resurgence, fuelled by champion success and mass participation, may soon reshape snooker’s competitive landscape. 

Ding has seen the highs, the dips, and now the rebirth, and his message is simple: the West must act or be overtaken.

China isn’t just producing stars. It’s producing depth. 

The question now is whether the UK can respond, or whether snooker’s future will belong to Beijing, Shanghai and beyond.