stanley_ wrote:Apologies if this is too much of an ask but I've been following the progress of the Chinese players over the years and was curious about the ones who have fallen off the tour. I make it 20 who have fallen off (not including anyone from this year). The first 7 are in these qualifiers:
Zhang Anda
Cao Yupeng
Zhang Yong
Li Yan
Fang Xiongman
Zhang Jiankang
Ju Reti
Liu Chuang
Liu Song
Yu Delu
Jin Long
Chen Zhe
Rouzi Maimaiti
Wang Yuchen
Niu Zhuang
Chen Feilong
Cao Xinlong
Lyu Chenwei
Li Yuan
Shi Hanqing
Just curious about if you know who is still playing/might ever make a comeback to the pro tour. I know Yu Delu is banned for years, of course.
Thanks for all the info you provide on here, have read your posts for quite a while but haven't been posting.
I'm aware of some of them. The top 6 guys on the list are still keen to return to the world tour. Ju Reti is in Shandong coaching several promising young players. He still plays to an excellent standard, but probably not interested in a major comeback - he gave up his wildcard place to his pupil Gao Yang in the 2019 World Open. He's led an incredible life actually.
Liu Chuang voluntarily left the UK to return to Liaoning, got married (Li Hang was best man!), and has played quite successfully on the Chinese 9-Ball Pool circuit. In 2018 he considered making a comeback, and visited the UK (I met him at the UK Championship in York), played in a couple of events in China, but didn't really follow it up.
Chen Feilong runs a club in Chengdu. He tried desperately hard to keep his pro career going after really enjoying his 2 years. He stayed here during the whole pandemic last year, practicing on his own in Mike Dunn's Darlington academy, but didn't get through Q School. He's 38 now and probably feels it's too late.
Wang Yuchen was a bright boy who tried to combine studying with playing. He's now in college.
Liu Song works as a coach and snooker journalist in Tianjin. I get a lot of information from him about the snooker scene in China, as well as interviews from the Chinese professionals after their matches here.
Li Yuan is one of the CBSA regional directors, in Xi'an I think.
Rouzi Maimaiti, Shi Hanqing, Cao Xinlong and Jin Long regularly compete on the Chinese tour. Niu Zhuang seems to have disappeared after 2 unhappy years in the UK. Another former pro, Pang Weiguo, works as a coach in Beijing. He was responsible for persuading Lyu Haotian to return snooker after his breakdown, for which I'm eternally grateful. I haven't heard about Lyu Chenwei and Chen Zhe - they played a couple of CBSA events, but not consistently.