Fan Zhengyi (, born 27 January 2001) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the

IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Sn ...

in 2017, and turned professional in 2018. He had a breakthrough season in 2021–22 when he reached his first ranking quarter-final at the

2022 German Masters The 2022 German Masters (officially the 2022 BildBet German Masters) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 26 to 30 January 2022 at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany. The tournament was the ninth ranking event of the 2 ...

and then won his first ranking title at the 2022 European Masters, defeating then six-time world champion

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

10–9 in the final. He became the fifth Chinese player to win a ranking title, following

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

Liang Wenbo Liang Wenbo (; born 25 March 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player based at the Oracle Snooker Club, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. Liang, who plays left-handed, has reached one Triple Crown final, made three Masters appearances, and ...

Yan Bingtao Yan Bingtao (, born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the youngest player to win the Amateur World Snooker Championship after defeating Muhammad Sajjad 8–7. Having qualified to compete on the main tour for ...

, and

Zhao Xintong Zhao Xintong (; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Long considered one of the brightest talents in the game, he won his first ranking title (also his first Triple Crown title) at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Lu ...

Career

Fan started playing snooker at the age of 5 in Harbin. Just one year later he finished 5th in the National Youth Pool Championships. When he was 8 he finished 3rd in the National Youth Snooker Championships. A trip to Singapore at the age of 14 saw him reach the final of the 2015 Cuesports Singapore Snooker Open, losing to experienced local player Marvin Lim 5–3, after taking a 2–0 lead.

Early career

In July 2017, Fan won five out of the last six frames to beat top seed

Luo Honghao Luo Honghao (; born 31 January 2000) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. Career Amateur In July 2017, he reached the final of 2017 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship where he lost the final 7–6 to Fan Zhengyi. Later i ...

7–6 and win the

at the tournament held in China. With this victory he was awarded a two-year Main Tour card for the professional snooker tour. He competed at the 2018 World Snooker Team Cup representing China with Zhang Jiankang but they lost to India 2–3 in the Round of 16.

2018/2019

At just 17, Fan was the youngest player on the professional tour in 2018–19. His first match was a 4–1 loss to

Jack Lisowski Jack Adam Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he is known for his atta ...

in the Riga Masters, and his first win was against his practice partner

Lyu Haotian Lyu Haotian (, born 29 November 1997) is a snooker player from the People's Republic of China, notable for being one of the youngest snooker players to have played in professional tournaments, aged only 14. He reached the quarter-finals of the ...

6–5 in the International Championship. However, he could only manage one further win in the remainder of the season, which finished in a 10–5 loss to

Chris Wakelin Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992) is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He practices in Bar 8 in Rugby. Career Early career Wakelin started playing snooker aged 8, when his parents Mark and Angie bought him his ...

in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

2019/2020

Fan played in the 2019 China National Championship in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

, seeded number 3, but lost in the 3rd round to Jin Long 4–2. He did however achieve the highest break in the competition of 143. Fan's best performance in the 2019–20 season came in the

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

. After a close win against Riley Parsons 4–3, he faced

. At 3-3 the match ended on a respotted black in the final frame. After easy misses by both players Fan potted it to reach the last-32 for the first time. His run was ended by

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight cue action and his long potting. Born in Harlow, Essex and r ...

4–0. In subsequent tournaments Fan had further victories against

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 2 ...

and

Peter Lines Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father ...

. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the snooker season was suspended. Fan Zhengyi was one of only 4 Chinese players to stay in the UK, but was unable to practice due to lockdown restrictions. He played in the rescheduled

, and beat amateur

Dylan Emery Dylan Emery (born 31 March 2001) is a Welsh professional snooker player. The winner of the 2021 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships, he defeated Julien Leclercq in the final, 5–2. As a result of this win, he has earned a place on the ...

6–4 in the first round. He produced a fine attacking display in the second round against

Dominic Dale Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. Career Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...

, but eventually lost 6-4 after having led 4–3. Thus his season finished ranked 92, which meant he was relegated from the tour. In an attempt to regain his Tour Card, Fan entered Q School. With 7 wins and no losses he was successful, beating two-time ranking event winner Michael White 4–2 in the final round, thus gaining entry to the 20-21 and 2021-22 snooker seasons.

2020/2021

Fan played in the very first match of the 2020-21 season, against

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

in a

Championship League Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. A ranking event version of the tournament began from September 2020, played similarly to its invitational, non-ranking counterpart but with some minor changes ...

group. He finished the group in 2nd place after beating

David Lilley David William Lilley (born 31 October 1977 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional footballer who usually plays at centre back but has also played at right back. Lilley was most recently the manager of Bellshill Athl ...

and drawing with

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Du ...

. After that he had a run of 6 losses. His only win against a professional in match longer than best-of-5 frames was a 6-4 defeat of

Zak Surety Zak Surety (born 4 October 1991) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Stuart Bingham and Allan Taylor. Career As an amateur, Surety based in Basildon entered in Players Tour Championship events from their e ...

in the

. He finished the season ranked 118.

2021/2022

After the 2021 season, Fan returned to China for the first time in 18 months. He played in the China City teams event in

, playing for the local

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

team alongside

and

Li Hang Li Hang is the name of: * Li Hang (footballer) (李行, born 1989), Chinese association footballer *Li Hang (snooker player) (李行, born 1990), Chinese snooker player See also * Li Gang (Song dynasty) (李綱, 1083–1140), regional commander se ...

. They were beaten in the quarter-final by eventual winners,

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. His 2021–22 professional season began with 4 losses and 1 win, against amateur

. Fan then produced his first win against a top-20 player, beating

Thepchaiya Un-nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one Snooker world rankings, ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open (snooker), 2019 World Open. H ...

5–3 in the first round of qualifying for the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, h ...

. He followed this up with a 5–4 win over

Lu Ning Lu Ning (, born 1 January 1994 in Jilin) is a professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China. Lu is among ten Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. Career Lu's fir ...

to qualify for the main event, held at the

Tempodrom The Tempodrom (also referred to as Neues Tempodrom) is a multi-purpose event venue in Berlin. Founded by Irene Moessinger, it opened in 1980 next to the Berlin Wall on the west side of Potsdamer Platz, housed in a large circus tent. After severa ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. He defeated opponents including

Liam Highfield Liam Highfield (born 1 December 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010 after finishing second in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He plays left-handed. Career Amateur years In the 2007/2008 season, Highfie ...

and

Andrew Higginson Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English former professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open. Career Early years After some success in amateur tourn ...

, before a 0–5 loss to Mark Allen in the quarter-finals. In the European Masters, Fan produced his best performance to date in a ranking tournament, defeating opponents including

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

, David Gilbert, and

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

to reach his first ranking final. He faced six-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. Fan took two-frame leads at 4–2, 6–4, and 8–6, but O'Sullivan recovered to draw level each time. Fan took a 9–8 lead, but O'Sullivan again drew level to force a deciding frame. After O'Sullivan missed a long red in the decider, Fan made a 92 break to win the match 10–9 for his first ranking title. Fan became the fifth Chinese player to win a ranking event, after

, Yan, and

Technique

Fan has a very unusual technique. He is very left-eye dominant, and when playing the shot, his cue is to the left of his head. Before turning professional, he was a member of the Wiraka Snooker Academy and was coached by former professional Roger Leighton.

Personal life

Fan was also a promising table tennis player, but decided to concentrate on snooker. He is also a cat-lover. During his first three years as a professional, he made no century breaks, despite being known as a heavy scorer in junior and amateur tournaments in China. In an interview with

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

he revealed that he deliberately avoided making them, wanting his first professional century to be a 147. He nearly achieved this in the

against

, but missed a difficult 13th red to a baulk pocket with the remaining balls in good positions. After this, he abandoned the plan. During the season, he lives in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

and practices at the Victoria Academy. His main practice partners are

and

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)

References

External links

Fan Zhengyi
at ''worldsnooker.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fan, Zhengyi Living people Chinese snooker players 2001 births Sportspeople from Harbin 21st-century Chinese people