Dongguan CBSA Youth Tournament

This event was held August 14-18 at the Dongguan academy, Guangdong Province. There were two categories, U21 and U14.

The U14 played 6-reds frames, with the players in 8 round-robin groups of 4-5, with the top two qualifying for a knockout stage of 16 players. All matches were best-of-5. There were 33 entrants.

The U21 was a more complex structure, used many times by the CBSA for their youth tournaments.

There were 6 groups of 7-8 players, double-elmination.

Each group has 4 first-round matches, and the winners play against each other to qualify. The first round losers play against each other, and the two winners from that play against the two losers from the winners section, to qualify. Thus, there are 4 qualifiers from each group. Then there is a knockout draw for the 24 qualifiers, with 8 players seeded through to the last-16. All matches best-of-5, but 15 reds this time. There were 43 entrants.

Group A:

1
Dong Zihao : bye
Xu Jianhao 3:0 Liu Yutong
Rong Gantao 0:3 Cao Zeshang
Lin Renjian 1:3 Mo Pengbo

W1
Dong Zihao 2:3 Xu Jianhao
Cao Zeshang 3:1 Mo Pengbo

L1
bye : Liu Yutong
Rong Gantao 0:3 Lin Renjian

L2
Liu Yutong 0:3 Mo Pengbo
Lin Renjian 3:2 Dong Zihao

Group B:

1
Gao Yang : bye
Yao Dongcheng 3:1 Pan Tuming
Chen Liren 3:2 Zhao Zhendong
Li Ziyi 0:3 Wan Jie

W1
Gao Yang 3:0 Yao Dongcheng
Chen Liren 0:3 Wan Jie

L1
bye : Pan Tuming
Zhao Zhendong 3:0 Li Ziyi

L2
Pan Tuming 3:0 Chen Liren
Zhao Zhendong 1:3 Yao Dongcheng

Group C

1
Xu Jiarui : bye
Hu Jiayun 3:0 Cheng Shima
Wang Yuhang 3:0 Liu Linwu
Huang Dezhao 1:3 Zhou Yichen

W
Xu Jiarui 3:0 Hu Jiayun
Wang Yuhang 3:1 Zhou Yichen

L1
bye : Cheng Shima
Liu Linwu 3:0 Huang Dezhao

L2
Cheng Shima 0:3 Zhou Yichen
Liu Linwu 1:3 Hu Jiayun

Group D

1
Bai Yulu : bye
Zhao Jinlin 2:3 Liu Huilun
Li Bihan 3:2 Wang Di
Zhang Shengyu 0:3 Zhou Jinhao

W
Bai Yulu 3:0 Liu Huilun
Li Bihan 0:3 Zhou Jinhao

L1
bye : Zhao Jinlin
Wang Di 1:3 Zhang Shengyu

L2
Zhao Jinlin 2:3 Li Bihan
Zhang Shengyu 3:1 Liu Huilun

Group E

1
Deng Haohui : bye
Wang Xinzhong 3:0 Liu Yan
Wang Xinbo 3:0 Li Yilang
Du Haojian 0:3 Gong Chenzhi

W
Deng Haohui 2:3 Wang Xinzhong
Wang Xinbo 3:1 Gong Chenzhi

L1
bye : Liu Yan
Li Yilang 3:2 Du Haojian

L2
Liu Yan 0:3 Deng Haohui
Li Yilang 0:3 Gong Chenzhi

Group F

1
Li Chengjie 3:0 Ma Lin
Lan Yuhao 3:0 Huang Jiale
Liu Wenxuan 3:1 Sun Yuanze
Huang Ziyi 3:0 Mo Tiantian

W
Li Chengjie 2:3 Lan Yuhao
Liu Wenxuan 3:1 Huang Ziyi

L1
Ma Lin 3:1 Huang Jiale
Sun Yuanze 3:1 Mo Tiantian

L2
Ma Lin 0:3 Huang Ziyi
Sun Yuanze 3:2 Li Chengjie

The upsets were in Group E, where the top-rated players Deng Haohui and Gong Chenzhi dropped a match, but were able to qualify for the last-24, although unseeded.

Gao Yang had a break of 135 in his match against Yao Dongcheng, and Bai Yulu had a 107 in her 3-0 win over Liu Huilun. The other girl, Li Bihan, was impressive, and qualified.

There were also two brothers playing, Wang Xinbo and Wang Xinzhong. This is unprecedented in Chinese snooker, due to the one-child policy operating since 1980, which has been progressively relaxed since 2005. Both qualified for the second stage.

The knockout stage had 24 players, with 8 seeded players (mostly group winners) promoted directly to the last-16.

Last-24 round:

Huang Ziyi 3:1 Hu Jiayun
Lin Renjian 3:2 Mo Pengbo
Li Bihan 0:3 Zhang Shengyu
Liu Wenxuan 2:3 Lan Yuhao
Xu Jianhao 1:3 Yao Dongcheng
Zhou Yichen 2:3 Wang Xinzhong
Deng Haohui 3:0 Sun Yuanze
Gong Chenzhi 3:0 Pan Tuming

Last-16 round:

Zhou Jinhao 3:1 Huang Ziyi
Wang Xinbo 3:0 Lin Renjian
Bai Yulu 3:0 Zhang Shengyu
Gao Yang 3:1 Lan Yuhao
Xu Jianrui 3:0 Yao Dongcheng
Wang Yuhang 3:0 Wang Xinzhong
Cao Zeshang 0:3 Deng Haohui
Wang Jie 1:3 Gong Chenzhi

Q-finals round

Zhou Jinhao 3:1 Wang Xinbo
Bai Yulu 1:3 Gao Yang
Xu Jianrui 0:3 Wang Yuhang
Deng Haohui 2:3 Gong Chenzhi

Big clashes in this round, as Gao Yang faced Bai Yulu, who has beaten him twice before: most recently in the CBSA Qualifiers (for the main tour) where Bai had a 142 break. This time Gao won, although Bai got a century break in the frame she won.

Although they had a rocky ride in the group stages, Deng Haohui and Gong Chenzhi played a fine match, with Gong edging it in the decider.

Semi-finals round

Zhou Jinhao 2:3 Gao Yang
Wang Yuhang 0:3 Gong Chenzhi

Final

Gao Yang 3:4 Gong Chenzhi

The semi-finals and final were played on 18th August. The Gao-Zhao match was very hard-fought.

In the final, Gong Chenzhi opened with a 123 break, and raced to a 3-1 lead. But Gao Yang came back to level 3-3. In the decider, Gao had a chance to win, but missed a red which allowed Gong to clear up with a 50 break and win the tournament.

Gong Chenzhi is a 17-year old from Zibo, Shandong Province. He was originally taught to play snooker by Yan Dong, Yan Bingtao's father. Both finalists are now in fact coached by the remarkable Ju Reti, one of the mythical figures in Chinese snooker.

With their performances in this event, Gong Chenzhi, Gao Yang and Bai Yulu have qualified for the Shanghai Masters, to be played in September, There will be one other wildcard announced duly by the CBSA, and they will be drawn against Ali Carter, Hossein Vafaei, John Higgins or Robert Milkins.

The U14 event was a 6-reds knockabout. I haven't translated all the results yet, but as a summary:

Semi-finals:
Sheng Yichen 3:0 He Shiwei
Chen Qien 3:1 Guan Hanlin

Final:
Sheng Yichen 3:2 Chen Qien

In the semi-final, Chen Qien (aged 14 from Zhuhai) put an end to the run of 9-year old Guan Hanlin. But then he lost in the final to Sheng Yichen, aged 12 from Hubei. Sheng had two total clearances (64 and 67) in his two matches.