Chinese Snooker Surge: Dominance at the 2026 World Grand Prix Signals a New Era!
So tomorrow we’re in for two all-Chinese semifinals: Zhou Yuelong vs. Anda Zhang and Xiao Guodong vs. Zhao Xintong!
In principle, it was to be expected that sooner or later Chinese snooker players would start pushing aside the British ones (you could also add Neil Robertson and Luca Brecel here).
So it’s time to get used to it!
To be honest, at one point I had high hopes for the Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. He was very prolific in break-building and made several maximums. But looking at the bigger picture, winning the Shoot-Out is not really a marker of a top-level player.
Chinese players, on the other hand, are advancing methodically through sheer numbers and consistency. That said, we’re unlikely to see many maximum-break specialists among them. The only Chinese player truly capable of constructing a maximum was Ding Junhui. But unfortunately, he still hasn’t managed to become world champion. And without a victory at the Crucible, nobody really cares about those maximums anyway.
