The family sacrifices that helped Wu become world champion

Wu Yize discusses the sacrifices made by his family on his journey to becoming China's second world snooker champion. By Steve Sutcliffe BBC Sport journalist at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield A new superstar of snooker. Another Chinese world champion. A year earlier, it had been Zhao Xintong lifting the trophy and creating history for his country. "During that time we were in Sheffield, she has been in hospital a lot.

At that time she told me 'don't come back home, I can manage everything'. Seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and Murphy, who won the title in 2005, both tipped him as a future world champion earlier in the campaign. He told BBC Sport: "This boy is just outstanding. "It confirms a new era for Chinese snooker at the very top level. During the peak moments, the number of viewers may have exceeded 100 million people." Zhao's victory 12 months ago was regarded as a seismic moment for Chinese snooker.

Wu's triumph at the International Championship in Nanjing last November was a breakthrough moment, lifting him to a then career-high 13th in the world rankings. "After that win, he was received by the vice governor of the Gansu province and this will be much bigger than that," said Chinese snooker reporter Joe Liu, who works for World Snooker. He's very confident and I think he knows he can do a lot more in the future." Wu's world title win has propelled him to fourth in the rankings and only added fuel to the belief that Chinese players could dominate the sport for years to come, playing a new brand of snooker. "The game is changing, shot selection is changing and the likes of Wu Yize are changing the face of snooker to make it much more aggressive," said six-time world champion Steve Davis during the BBC's TV coverage of the final. "The modern-day players coming through have got to copy this.

You can't win playing safe." Seven-time winner Stephen Hendry added: "He's just brilliant. He just gets on with it and he's having fun." Chinese players won three times on the professional circuit during 2024-25. That figure increased to seven from 23 events this season, albeit courtesy of only three players - Zhao, Xiao Guodong and Wu. The number of players from China appearing for the televised stage of the World Championship rose from a record 10 in 2025 to 11 this year. This time there have been five, with Zhao and Wu added to the list and Zhang dropping out.

Furthermore, 10 will start next term inside the top 32. The top five players in the world were all British 12 months ago, but that is now no longer the case. We've seen a big shift in the younger players. Wu Yize discusses the sacrifices made by his family on his journey to becoming China's second world snooker champion. The family sacrifices that helped Wu become world champion