Jin Long (; born 23 May 1981) is a Chinese former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player. He is nicknamed "Golden Dragon", which is a

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

of his given name.

Career

He became professional in 2001 following his strong runs to the finals of the Asian and Chinese Championships. His first Main Tour stints were rather unsuccessful, with the best result a last 48 appearance at the 2004 Grand Prix. Jin has regained a Main Tour place by winning the 2008 Asian Championship, beating

Aditya Mehta Aditya Mehta (born 31 October 1985 in Mumbai, India) is an Indian former professional snooker player. He participated on the World Snooker Tour for the 2007–08 season, and between 2011 and 2018. He reached a highest world ranking of 49. Meht ...

7–3 in the final, having had spells on the tour on three previous occasions. He has been a regular wildcard in the China Open and he also competed in the 2008 Jiangsu Classic finishing above top players such as

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

and

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

in his group, eventually finishing third.

2011/2012 season

Jin recorded the best ranking event finish of his career to date at the 2012 World Open, where he reached the last 16. He was selected to play in the wildcard round, where he beat

Sam Baird Sam Baird (born 17 June 1988) is an English former professional snooker player. He first entered the professional tour for the 2009/10 season, by winning the EBSA Pro-Ticket Tour Play-offs. Career 2011/2012 season Baird reached the main draw o ...

5–3 to qualify for the last 32 and a match up with compatriot

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 (2005 ...

. Jin capitalised on his opponent's mistakes and won the match 5–1, but could not continue his run in the tournament in the next round as he lost 5–2 to

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998. Milkins ...

. Long won his first event in the Invitational HK Spring Trophy. This event was organised by the same event organisers as the General Cup. Long beat Li Hang in the final.

2012/2013 season

Jin played in the wildcard round of the

Wuxi Classic The Wuxi Classic was a professional snooker tournament held from 2008 to 2014 in the city of Wuxi, China. It was a ranking event from 2012 through 2014. For the 2015/16 season, World Snooker reduced the number of ranking events held in China, whi ...

and Shanghai Masters this season, losing 5–3 to

Jamie Burnett Jamie Burnett (born 16 September 1975) is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. A journeyman, Burnett was ranked within the world's top 64 players for 20 consecutive years between 1996 and 2016, reac ...

in the former. In Shanghai he saw off Jimmy Robertson 5–4, before

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 ...

beat him 5–2 in the first round. He played in all three of the new

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

events with his best finish coming at the Second Event where he was knocked out 4–2 in the quarter-finals by

Cao Yupeng Cao Yupeng (; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached ...

. This result was a major factor in him finishing 13th on the Order of Merit, high enough to receive a place on the main tour for the next two seasons.

2013/2014 season

Despite being able to enter qualifying for every ranking event in the 2013–14 season, Jin only played in the four

events. He was beaten in the last 64 once and in the last 32 three times to finish 30th on the Order of Merit and 116th in the snooker world rankings. For the 2014–15 season, he didn't renew his

WPBSA The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...

membership and was therefore no longer on the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...

2014/2015 season

Jin played in two events during the 2014/2015 season, losing 4–0 to Ian Burns the opening round of the

Haining Open The Haining Open is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It was a minor-ranking part of the Players Tour Championship until 2015. History The tournament started in 2014 and was staged at the Haining Sports Center in Haining, Zhejiang, China. The ...

and defeating Wang Heng 4–3 at the Xuzhou Open, before losing 4–2 to Mark King in the second round.

2015/2016 season

Jin only played in the

and lost 4–2 to James Cahill in the first round.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Pro–am finals: 1 (1 title)

Amateur finals: 3 (2 titles)

References

External links

Profile on Pro Snooker Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jin, Long Chinese snooker players Living people 1981 births Sportspeople from Liaoning Asian Games medalists in cue sports Cue sports players at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for China Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games 21st-century Chinese people