Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Sun Jiahui
Last night, Beijing time, the 2023 World Snooker Championship opened the 1/4 final competition at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The 20-year-old Chinese teenager Si Jia Hui, who became the fifth Chinese player in history to reach the last eight of the World Snooker Championship, will compete with McGill for a place in the last four, and if he achieves his wish, he will hopefully meet "Rocket" O'Sullivan in the semifinals. Si Jiahui's performance in this World Championships can be described as "stone shattering" and "born in the sky", after all, this name has rarely entered the public eye before, this teenager from Zhuji, Zhejiang, who followed his father to study and play everywhere since he was a child, under the age of 5 has defeated Ding Junhui's amazing performance, what has he experienced over the years to achieve today's perfect transformation?
Si Jia Hui "took over" Ding Junhui
On April 4, Beijing time, the World Snooker Championship ended a focus match in the 24/1 final, and Si Jia Hui defeated the famous Milkins 8-13 to advance to the last eight. He also became the youngest World Championship Top 7 player in nearly 8 years, and he also became the fifth Chinese player in history to reach the last 25 of the World Championship after Fu Jiajun, Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo and Yan Bingtao.
In this World Championships, a total of 5 Chinese players broke into the main stage, of which Ding Junhui directly advanced as a seed, and 4 "post-00s" players Pang Junxu, Fan Zhengyi, Wu Yize and Si Jiahui entered the main stage through the qualifying round, which was their Cruzburg Theater debut. As a child, their dream was to make a pilgrimage to Cruzburg, and now they not only make an appearance here, but also "show off their muscles".
After the first round, Ding Junhui, Pang Junxu, Fan Zhengyi and Wu Yize unfortunately went out, and the last to appear Si Jia Hui defeated Grand Slam player and current world No. 10 Shaun Murphy 9-4 in the first round, equivalent to replacing the No. 4 seed to enter the round of 16.
Facing Milkins in the quarterfinals, Jia Hui firmly controlled the situation in a format of 1 wins in 8 games, winning 25-13, 6-2, 11-5 in the third stage to reach the last eight.
"The whole process was calm, every matchday was played as a small game, there were not many (mental) fluctuations. Just treat every game as a practice and enjoy the Crucible Theatre. It was good for the whole audience to look at me, so that my heart would think about playing better. Scarfid said after the game.
Si Jia Hui revealed that he returned to China to rest for 20 days at the beginning of this year, after all, he has not returned for 3 years, and he is still very homesick.
The snooker relationship between father and son
Some people say that Si Jiahui and Ding Junhui have many similarities, for example, both of them are relatively gentle, do not speak much, have been out of school since childhood to study and play with their father all over the country, and play calmly and impactfully when they are young.
In 2002, Si Jia Hui was born in an ordinary family in Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, because of his father Si Peijun, he began to contact billiards and snooker at a very young age, and learned ball in Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places. According to reports, when Si Jia Hui was in the fourth grade of primary school, his father Si Pei Jun opened a billiard room, and Si Jia Hui has been fascinated by billiards since then. Every day when he came home from school, he would go to watch people play. At the age of 10, he was about the height of a club, but he could beat many adults who came to play in the room.
Si Jiahui first entered the public eye on the first day of the 2016 China Professional Snooker Tour Fuzhou main event, where the 13-year-old defeated the already famous Ding Junhui 4-2. Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter happened to be on the scene to interview, witnessed this stunning scene, Ding Junhui won 2 games first and then lost 4 consecutive games, although the game itself has accidents, can not be a proof of future achievements, but still let people remember Si Jiahui, he is also more determined to take the career route.
In 2013, Si Jia Hui won the runner-up in his first competition in Shanghai, his talent in billiards was revealed, and his father decided to take him south to Dongguan, Guangdong, so Si Jia Hui completed the formalities for suspension and began his study journey. In a sense, the young Si Jia Hui went to Guangdong with his father to learn ball, which is also to follow the practice of Ding Junhui and his father.
Deng Shihao, executive vice president of Guangdong Billiards Association and international referee, said that Si Jia Hui played in Dongguan when he was a child, showing good talent, and he can often be seen in the games held by the Guangdong Provincial Taiwan Association, perhaps because of his young age, he didn't like to talk very much at that time, and sometimes he lost and had a temper, but he played very hard, and the game was patient, especially after playing professionally in the UK, the child completed the transformation, the temperament on the field and the way of handling the ball have been greatly improved, and he has a good professional quality. Everyone is happy for his growth.
Deng Shihao said that in recent years, the number of Chinese legions has been increasing, and its strength cannot be underestimated, occupying an important seat in the international snooker community, "The future snooker market is definitely still in China, because China has an industrial base, echelon construction and player output; In July last year, the World Snooker Academy (headquartered in Beijing) established a Guangdong branch in Dongguan, and now China has formed two training bases in the north and south, which can better train snooker professionals; At the beginning of this year, Ma Hailong, who studied at the Snooker Academy, won the WST Australian championship, and then obtained the qualification of professional players, plus the Chinese professional player selection that just ended in April, and 7 players stood out, the new season opened in July this year, Ma Hailong, Xing Zihao, Jiang Jun, Long Zehuang 4 players confirmed to get the 3~7 season of professional player qualification, in this way, the Chinese legion's lineup expanded to more than 4 people, after the tempering of the world professional competition, They will make more contributions to the development and growth of the Chinese snooker movement in the future. ”
Mentors point out the "key points" of growth
Si Jiahui's upbringing was not all smooth sailing, and the days of studying everywhere were quite turbulent, but he and his father had dreams and did not back down in the face of difficulties.
Zhang Dongtao, head of the CBSA World Snooker Academy coaching staff and Si Jia Hui's coach, said that the college has trained and sent 10 players to compete in the professional ranking tournament, and everyone often interacts through social media, this World Championships, the Chinese team has 5 people advanced to the main competition, among them, Fan Zhengyi and Si Jiahui are children trained by the college, "We will give them guidance before the game, in the past, Yan Bingtao has the experience of reaching the top 8 of the World Championships, we will give the team members psychological counseling before the competition in the early stage, more encouragement, reduce some pressure, Motivate them with positive energy, although they are thousands of miles away, but the preparation can not be slack, Scarfai can win Murphy, Milkins, it shows that he is eager to win, prove himself with strength, and being able to walk into Cruzburg is a reward for so many years of hard work. ”
Zhang Dongtao revealed that the turning point of Si Jiahui's career appeared in 2019, "At the end of 2018, he and his father came to the academy for the first time, but did not immediately decide to stay, and came back a few months later, he decided to stay for training, I took him for special training for 4 months, I felt that the psychological quality of this team member is very good, dare to fight, have character, and have a lot of room for explosiveness, in April 2019, he went to the UK to participate in the Q School Trials, and obtained the professional player qualification with the first ranking, although there were some twists and turns behind, But he insisted on staying in the UK to practice and finally achieved something, and we inspired him not to give up and not forget the moment his hand touched the table when he first competed. ”
Today, with the strong support and promotion of the Chinese Billiards Association, the Chinese sport of snooker has made great progress, and more and more young golfers have jumped to the professional arena through the platform of the academy.