The Rocket predicts Higgins’ conqueror
Snooker legend Ronnie O’sullivan has tipped new Masters champion Yan Bingtao to become a multiple world champion.
New kid on the block Bingtao stunned the establishment as he shocked Scotland’s John Higgins to win last weekend’s Masters.
The whizz-kid became the youngest winner of snooker’s mostillustrious invitational event since O’sullivan in 1995.
A Chinese snooker revolution has been on the cards since Ding Junhui burst onto the scene and beat Stephen Hendry in the 2005 World Open as a wildcard.
And Ding proved that was no fluke when he beat Steve Davis in the UK Championship later that same year. Trail-blazer Ding inspired a generation of young snooker players from his native China.
But there is still yet to be a Chinese world champion with Ding, the 2016 finalist, strug-gling with the weight of a nation on his shoulders.
“I definitely think Yan Bingtao will win the World Championship and I think he’ll win a few,” said world champion O’sullivan.
“I think he’s got more chance of achieving some of the things Ding Junhui hasn’t because he’s got a lot
more time on his side. It’s a good time to be coming into snooker for him really.
“He’s the best of all the young Chinese players there are at the moment.
“He’s the most mature, we’ve seen him do it under intense pressure and you need to be able to perform under pressure to win at the Crucible.”
A conveyor belt of talent has flooded the tour from China in recent years with speculation around who would succeed Ding as China’s No 1.
And it’s been a matter of when – not if – Bingtao would make his mark after beating Higgins and Stephen Maguire in the World Cup final at the age of 15.
The challenge for Bingtao will be how he handles the pressure from his homeland.
Huge endorsement deals will follow his maiden major win and he will be heralded as a hero. Ding famously receives superstar status in China and is mobbed at airports and has moved to Sheffield to live a quieter life away from that furore.
And O’sullivan added: “We’ve been going to China for years and there’s always been young Chinese wildcards you’ve never heard of.
“You never know there could be three or four who come out of the woodwork in the next couple of years.
“It’s amazing how many young Chinese players there are.”