Snooker’s Olympics push gets jolt from China’s back-to-back world champions

Snooker’s bid to enter the Olympic Games will be boosted by having back-to-back world champions from China, the sport’s top official said Tuesday.

Wu Yize beat Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a dramatic world championship final on Monday to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Zhao Xintong, who became Asia’s first ever world champion 12 months ago.

Britain has long been snooker’s traditional stronghold, but China — home to about 300,000 recognized snooker clubs — is the growing force in the game, providing 11 of the 32 players in the main draw of the worlds over the last two weeks and five in the top 16 of the world ranking.

Snooker failed in bids to get onto the Olympic program for the first time for the Games in 2021 and 2024, and it could launch another attempt ahead of the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.

Jason Ferguson, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said the International Olympic Committee “definitely has got eyes on our sport” and the recent successes of Chinese players can only help.

“It’s vitally important,” Ferguson told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “China is a very important country to the IOC — it has been a host of the Games on many occasions and they are heavily invested in sports, in IOC terms.

“So the fact that China is a key market for snooker is a really important part about any Olympic bid.”

The growth of snooker in other markets —notably in eastern Europe, with Poland having its first player competing in the world championship in Antoni Kowalski this year — is highlighted by the fact there are almost 100 countries with some kind of national infrastructure for the sport, Ferguson noted.

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“When we started this idea of going to the Olympics, we only had a handful of countries playing,” he said.

“But we are ready [to be in the Olympics]. And that’s an exciting proposition.”

Ferguson said the association was working on making its final applications to get snooker into the Paralympics, too. Snooker was on that program from 1960-88.

The IOC likely will finalize its program of sports to be added to the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics by next spring, around the time of the next world snooker championship. Strong support from Brisbane officials should be crucial to any sport’s ambitions to get Olympic status.

Australian snooker player Neil Robertson was the world champion in 2010 and is the current world No. 2.

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Wu’s rapid rise after relocating to Britain: At age 22, Wu became the second youngest player to win snooker’s biggest prize and did so in a flamboyant style that has marked him out for many, including the great Ronnie O’Sullivan, as a likely world champion.

Six years ago, Wu relocated to Britain from his hometown of Lanzhou to pursue his dream of becoming a professional. He came with his father — his mother stayed in China — and they shared a small, windowless flat that was in such “poor condition,” Wu said, that it might have given him acne because of the poor air quality.

“If you really love snooker,” he said, “it is the path you have to go through and fight through.”

His victory at the world championship was something of a surprise, as Wu had never won a match at the worlds before this year.

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Like Zhao, Wu — the new world No. 4 — wants his journey to be an inspiration for all Chinese players back home.

“I hope younger players can stay true to their passion, be a bit braver, and go after their dreams,” he said.