MarcoStaiano wrote:lhpirnie wrote:chengdufan wrote:This is an excellent thread.
I think some of the relatively recent Thai players are worth a mention, in particular Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon. He made a maximum aged 16 in a 2010 PTC Event, becoming the youngest player to achieve the feat in professional competition. In my rankings, he got up to 64th a few months before his 20th birthday, but after he turned 20 he barely competed in any events. After losing his pro status in 2016, he hasn't been seen since. He is still only 28.
Quite a few players from overseas weren't able to make it on tour, perhaps because of the disruption, but mostly because of financial limitations. Indeed, it's hard to think of any overseas player who reached their full potential.
From China, there is Ju Reti. A great talent who only played one professional match. He was unfortunately never given the backing to develop his career. His life story is possibly the most extraordinary of any snooker player.
I heard the name, but don't know the story! Please, if you know more share his story with us!
Yes, I read an article about him (in Chinese) a few years ago, which I can't find anymore. So I'm relying on memory a bit here.
Ju Reti was from a very poor family in Xinjiang, a Uighur Muslim. His father, a farmer, died when Ju was only 12 and he had to leave school and support the family. This he did by farm work, working in an abattoir, running donkey rides for tourists and a whole load of other bizarre jobs. I believe he's only semi-literate in the Chinese language. He was extremely talented at snooker, and tried to earn money as a hustler, but soon his reputation was such that everyone refused to play against him. Back to the donkey trail...
But after being successful in local tournaments, he qualified for some national events in China (early 2000's). Ultimately, his biggest success was winning the Zhejiagang Open, a pro-am PCT in 2013, beating Michael Holt in the final. This qualified him for the tour finals, where he came to the UK and stayed with Liang Wenbo. He lost the match to Judd Trump. It remains the only match he has ever played outside China.
He wasn't able to take up his professional tour card, without the necessary funds. There's speculation that his ethnicity blocked him from getting necessary backing (Rouzi Maimaiti had a similar problem).
He now works primarily as a coach, but still plays occasionally . Even recently, he reached a couple of Q-finals in Chinese pro-am events, beating a few professionals. In 2019, he qualified for a wildcard for the World Open, but decided to withdraw and let his pupil, 15-year old Gao Yang, play instead. Gao lost, but a couple of months later won the WSF and qualified for the tour.
I'm sure I've just scratched the surface of this extraordinary character. He's a bit of a mythical figure, who crops up in all kinds of places. There are stories of challenge matches with ridiculous handicaps, 147's using borrowed cues, etc.
It's a real shame he never had the chance to develop. Certainly the situation in China has now changed and the money is spread much more widely.