Chinaman Gao Yang has won the inaugural 2020 WSF Junior Open in Malta, beating Englishman Sean Maddocks 5-2 in the final.
The 2019 IBSF World Under-18 Championship finalist had a very difficult passage to reach the final. He finished second in his group, not helped by his loss to Kayden Brierley. However, he managed to beat top seeds Scotsman Dean Young and fellow compatriot Wu Yize, who is the 2018 IBSF World Under-21 Men Snooker Champion, in deciding frames to reach the final.
The 15-year-old met a very difficult opponent in the final. After conceding just one frame in his group, Maddocks started the knockout rounds as the top seed. Maddocks, who is currently the youngest player to make a competitive maximum 147 break, beat top youngsters to get to the final, including current IBSF World Under-16 Champion Antoni Kowalski and 2019 European Under-18 Championship winner Aaron Hill.
The Englishman lead in the early stages of the match at 1-0 and 2-1. The pivotal point appeared to be when Gao made two clearances to equal at 2-2. Since then Gao stepped up a gear and Maddocks wasn’t at his best. By the end of the match, Gao had the higher pot success and safety success, the highest break of the match and is the quicker player. His win means that his will win a two-year professional card to compete on the snooker tour.
There are two things to observe about Gao Yang and China’s prowess. Gao is 15 years of age. This makes me wonder if he will be allowed to compete on the tour in the first place. According to the tour 2020/2021 season qualifying criteria, this is what is being said:
When Yan won the 2014 Amateur World Snooker Championship, his tour card was deferred. This was because of a multiple of factors. He failed to obtain a UK visa and it was decided that he would play the 2016/2017 season in order for him to complete his education in China and become eligible for a working visa. Yan was 14-years-old when he won that title so it’s just a question if this will happen to Gao Yang.
This relates to the strength of the Chinese youngsters. Look at professionals Luo Honghao, Fan Zhengyi, Xu Si, Lyu Haotian, Yuan Sijun, Zhao Xintong and former pro Wang Yuchen. Every one has won reach the final of a continental or world amateur titles for qualify for the professional tour since 2014. Aside from the Asian events, it would be more interesting if there wasn’t such a dominance from the Chinese amateurs. Even in the WSF Junior Open, only two Chinese players entered the tournament. Both Gao and Wu reached the semi-finals and Gao beat Wu in the decider.
But there’s no rest of the wicked, as the saying goes. The 2020 WSF Open starts on Friday 10th January, also in Malta. My preview of the event is here. Another two-year tour card is at stake!
