Chinese teenagers win Snooker World Cup
Neil Robertson (credit: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Teenagers Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao clinched the 2015 Snooker World Cup for China B, beating Scotland’s John Higgins and Stephen Maguire 4-1 in the final.
The Chinese pair had scraped through the semi-finals in a deciding frame earlier in the day against a strong Welsh side of Mark Williams and Michael White, before running away with the final against their vastly experienced opponents to claim the top prize of $200,000.
Zhou and Yan have a combined age of 32 and were only competing in the event due to the host nation being granted a second team in Wuxi.
Nevertheless they have shown nerves of steel this week, racing to the top of Group D ahead of the likes of the Republic of Ireland and England, who boasted the world’s top two players in Mark Selby and world champion Stuart Bingham.
They also made fairly light work of an Australian team featuring Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals by four frames to two.
Few had fancied the young Chinese duo, who have both won the World Amateur Championship, but they held their own brilliantly to withstand Wales cancelling their lead on three occasions in the semis, before running away with the deciding frame to advance to the final.
There, they built on that momentum with Yan knocking in a break of 100 against Higgins in the opening frame.
Zhou then overcame world number 15, Maguire, before they stretched their lead to 3-0 in the doubles frame.
Maguire pulled one back for the Scots but Zhou calmly knocked in a 33 clearance against Higgins in frame five to secure the most incredible victory.
Scotland had been fairly fortunate to reach the final, winning their semi on the final pink against India after Aditya Mehta wasted a match-winning opportunity.
Zhou and Yan’s reward is a place in November’s Champion of Champions event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, where Ronnie O’Sullivan is the defending champion.
