On April 19, Beijing time, the first round of the Snooker World Championships was in full swing, and O’Sullivan easily advanced to the top 16. After the game, he spoke freely in an interview with the British media, rarely looking forward to his “successor” and the future of the World Championships, but all focus on China. Can the astonishing words of “Teacher Huo” become a reality?
“Rocket” appointed “successor”
The “Rocket” with 6 world championship titles is the most concerned person in the world today. As one of the “75 Three Heroes”, at the age of 47, he still dominates the world and is the only one who has been in the world for 30 years. .
In the first round of the World Championships, O’Sullivan defeated David Gilbert 10-5 and easily advanced to the round of 16. It was his 26th time in the top 16 of the World Championships, tying Hendry’s record of 70 wins at the Crucible Theatre.
After successfully passing the level, O’Sullivan was in a good mood. When he talked regarding his “successor”, he believed that this person was the 25-year-old Chinese rookie Zhao Xintong.
This season, Zhao Xintong has been on the rise. First, he won the British Championships, one of the three major snooker competitions, as a “dark horse”. After more than a month, he won the German Masters and won two ranking championships. The world ranking soared directly to 6th place.
“I enjoyed being with him (Zhao Xintong) and helping him as a player. I enjoyed watching his first round, he improved a lot. It was exciting and I liked what he showed. Things.” O’Sullivan made no secret of his love for Zhao Xintong, “He is probably the only player I can help, because he plays a lot like me, and we have a very similar view of the game. He is a strong learner. Man. I think even if he only reaches 80 per cent of his potential to win five or six world titles, that’s easy.”
O’Sullivan, who is still unfinished, also said, “One day when I retire, I need to have a ‘dominant’ person, and he is that person. He is the one who plays snooker, the one who plays in this sport. Someone who does what I want to see.”
Optimistic regarding China taking over the World Championships
In an interview with the British media, O’Sullivan once once more mentioned the future direction of the World Championships, and even named “China can take over.”
O’Sullivan said that the development of snooker has encountered difficulties and cannot compete with sports such as golf and tennis. “I think the only chance for the World Championships to move out of the Crucible Theatre is to provide 3 million pounds from China. Championship bonus, they can do it.”
“I think it’s a good choice to move the World Championships to China. It is possible to improve the standard of golf or tennis. China can do it. It is impossible to refuse such a condition. It will elevate the competition to another level. .”
The data shows that the total prize money of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships is as high as 38 million pounds, and the singles championship prize money reaches a record 2.35 million pounds.
China has created a number of events such as China Open (Beijing), Shanghai Masters, China Championship (Guangzhou), World Open (Yushan), International Championship (Daqing), etc. The total prize money for each event is up to 1 million pounds, and the champion prize is 22.5 million pounds. This is still far from the total prize money of over 2 million pounds in the World Championships and the championship prize of 500,000 pounds.
When there are more and more top 10 Chinese players in the world, and they are expected to hit the World Championships, perhaps the World Championships will not be far off in China.
Sun Jiahui, all media reporter of Guangzhou Daily