Ding Junhui is China’s most famous snooker player. He opened an academy in Sheffield - the home of snooker - in 2020 to help nurture the young players from his country, as well as India and Thailand.
CGTN Europe visited this hotspot for rising snooker talent from China and found out what makes this British city so special.
#dingjunhui #china #snooker #worldsnookertour #wst #WorldChampionships
CGTN Europe visited this hotspot for rising snooker talent from China and found out what makes this British city so special.
#dingjunhui #china #snooker #worldsnookertour #wst #WorldChampionships
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NewsTranscript
00:00Fan Jenny is a rising star in the world of snooker.
00:05Aged just 24, he's a top 5 player in China and ranked 46th in the world.
00:11He is training for the World Snooker Championship held in the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
00:17Like many top Chinese players, Fan moved to Sheffield when he was just 17 to train among the best.
00:24Most of the Chinese players come to train in Sheffield because the Crucible is here, where the World Championship takes place.
00:33Also the Academy is in Sheffield and our Chinese players train here.
00:38Fan trains at the Ding Jun Wei Academy, founded by China's most successful snooker player ever.
00:44The players, the tables, the equipment here, I think they are already the best in the UK, absolutely.
00:52There is no professional environment like this in China.
00:56Snooker is highly popular in China. The country has the second highest number of top 100 ranked players in the world, after England.
01:04Tian Pengfei is one of them. He comes to the Academy to mentor the next generation of players.
01:11For Asian players, the challenge is we need to stay here. We are like a community.
01:17You know, we are going out together, we practice together, so we try to live in here.
01:22Even the young ones, I think, definitely will be lonely, because family in China.
01:28About 15 Chinese players train at the Academy every day, seven days a week, never losing sight of the end goal.
01:36We not come to holiday. We come to work. That's why the challenge is a bigger challenge. You need to work. You need to win. You need to win the tournament. That's the bigger challenge, you know.
01:48Some of these Chinese players will be chasing their dreams, competing in the World Snooker Championship to be held at the iconic Crucible Theatre from this weekend.
01:57Catherine Drew, CGTN.
01:58Catherine Drew, CGTN.