Ma Hailong (; born 4 September 2003) is a

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 from China. In February 2023, he won the 2023 World Snooker Federation Championship, and with it earned a two-year card 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 ...

Early life

At the age of thirteen, Ma Hailong took six months out of school in order to travel the 1000 miles from his home to train at the CBSA World Snooker Academy in Beijing.

Career

In January 2023, at the Guangzhou Snooker Championship, Ma Hailong defeated

Jiang Jun Jiang may refer to: * ''Jiang'' (rank), rank held by general officers in the military of China *Jiang (surname), several Chinese surnames **Jiang Zemin (1926–2022), as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party *Jiang River, an ancient riv ...

in the final to win the championship. In February 2023 Ma Hailong defeated

Stan Moody Stan Moody (born 14 September 2006) is a British professional snooker player from Halifax, West Yorkshire. In February 2023 he won the WSF World Junior Championship, and with it earned a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour starting with 2 ...

in the final of the WSF Championship in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

where the win secured him the offer of a two-year card on the

. On the way to victory in the tournament he defeated

Liu Hongyu Liu Hongyu (; born January 11, 1975, in Liaoning) is a female Chinese race walker. Achievements See also *China at the World Championships in Athletics The People's Republic of China (PRC) first competed at the IAAF World Championships in At ...

and former professional Gao Yang. It was his first overseas tournament outside of China. Previously a student at the CBSA Academy branch in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, after his win it was reported he was planning to move to the United Kingdom to be managed by Bobby Lee and Elite Sports Management. He entered into the invitational

2023 Six-red World Championship The 2023 Pathum Thani Six-red World Championship was a non-ranking six-red snooker tournament held from 6 to 11 March 2023 at the Thammasat University Convention Centre in Pathum Thani, Thailand. The event was originally scheduled for September 2 ...

held in

Pathum Thani Pathum Thani ( th, ปทุมธานี, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, directly north of Bangkok. It is the capital of the Pathum Thani province, Thailand as well as the Mueang Pathum Thani district. As of 2005, it ha ...

, Thailand in March 2023.

2023/24

He was entered into the draw draw at the 2023 Championship League held at the

Morningside Arena The Leicester Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the Morningside Arena Leicester, is a multi-purpose built sports arena located in Leicester, England. The arena has a seating capacity for 3,000 spectators. The arena's main tenants are the ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England from 26 June 2023. He went unbeaten in his round-robin stage, earning draws against

Mink Nutcharut Nutcharut Wongharuthai (, ; born 7 November 1999), better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai professional snooker player who is the reigning World Women's Snooker Champion. She and Neil Robertson are also the reigning World Mixed Doubles champion ...

, John Astley and Gary Wilson. In August 2023, he defeated Ian Burns to qualify for the latter rounds of the

2023 British Open The 2023 British Open (officially the 2023 Cazoo British Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 25 September to 1 October 2023 at the Cheltenham Racecourse, Centaur in Cheltenham, England. Qualifying took place from 14 ...

. At the event, held in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

in September 2023, he reached the last-16 of a ranking event for the first time. At the

2023 Northern Ireland Open The 2023 Northern Ireland Open (officially the 2023 BetVictor Northern Ireland Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 29 October 2023 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Organised by the World Snoo ...

he defeated 12th seed Ryan Day in a deciding frame. In November 2023, he was on the receiving end of a maximum

147 break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 2 ...

at the

2023 UK Championship The 2023 UK Championship (officially the 2023 MrQ UK Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 25November to 3December 2023 at the York Barbican in York, England. The 47th edition of the UK Championship, first he ...

in a 6–1 defeat by compatriot

Xu Si Xu Si (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Xu Si first started playing snooker aged 12 at his local club in Jieyang during the school holidays. After a few weeks he became determined to become a snooker pla ...

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Hailong Living people Chinese snooker players 21st-century Chinese people 2003 births People from Guilin