China News Service, Beijing, October 24th. On the morning of the 24th, Beijing time, the 2022 Snooker Northern Ireland Open came to an end. Chinese player Zhou Yuelong, who reached the final of the ranking competition for the third time in his career, still missed his first ranking championship. The top seed of this event, the native Mark Allen of Northern Ireland, successfully defended his title.

　　In this Open, 24-year-old Zhou Yuelong performed well, knocking out world champion Sean Murphy in the second round of the main competition.

In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, they faced the world's top 20 English star Gilbert and Scotland's "post-90s" McGill. They both staged a Jedi counterattack when they fell behind. While fully demonstrating their strength, they also showed The growing maturity and stability of its style.

　　From postponing the qualifying round to entering the top 8, "Little Steel Cannon" Mark Allen advanced after defeating Chinese players in the first 4 rounds of this Open.

This time Zhou Yuelong met him in the final, and Chinese fans also hoped that Zhou Yuelong could "revenge" other Chinese players while winning his first ranking championship.

　　The final of the Open is a best-of-17-inning system, and the game is divided into two stages.

At the beginning of the game, Zhou Yuelong was as brave as the fans expected, leading 4:1 in the first 5 games.

Just when the audience thought that Chinese snooker would produce the seventh ranking player, the situation turned sharply. Mark Allen won 3 games in a row, and at the end of the first stage, the big score was chased to 4: 4 flats.

　　The second stage in the early morning of the 24th Beijing time became Mark Allen's one-man show. "Little Steel Cannon" won 5 consecutive games, successfully defended the title with 9:4, and won the seventh ranking championship of his career.

　　From a 4:1 lead to a 4:9 loss, Zhou Yuelong collapsed and lost 8 games in a row, which is easily reminiscent of the 2020 European Masters.

Zhou Yuelong, who was 22 years old at the time, reached the final of the ranking competition for the first time, but he was defeated in the face of "Melbourne Machine" Neil Robertson, and finally lost 0:9, leaving a major "tragedy" in the history of the snooker ranking final. .

After more than two years, Zhou Yuelong's defeat again reminded Chinese snooker players that while improving their skills, they also need to strengthen their psychological construction.

　　A total of 27 players from the Chinese Legion, including 3 players from Hong Kong, China, played in the 2022 Northern Ireland Open qualifying round. A total of 13 players advanced to the main match, 8 players entered the top 32, 5 players entered the top 16, and 2 players reached the top 8. Zhou Yuelong advanced to the top 4 and the final alone.

Ding Junhui, the "first brother" of Chinese billiards, suffered a round trip in the main game. Zhao Xintong, the world's highest ranked Chinese player, was upset in the postponed qualifying match.

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