The 22-year-old Chinese Pang Junxu, 53rd in the world ranking, starred this Wednesday in another big surprise in the Championship League, competition of the 2022/23 World Snooker season running until Friday, the 29th of this month. , in Leicester (England), by winning Group A of the 2nd Stage of the competition and removing from the tournament the number one in the hierarchy and seven-time world champion, the English Ronnie O’Sullivan, 46 years old.
The ‘Rocket’ started the day and the three games in the worst way, crashing with a bang (0-3) against another Chinese prodigy, Yuan Sijun.
And then, forced to already have to win Pang Junxu – considered ‘Rookie [novato] of the Year’ in 2021 -, he soon found himself losing by 0-1 and sludge after 0-2, with the Asian missing a maximum entry attempt (147 points): 1-3 for the Chinese, which was enough for a draw (2-2) in the duel with Yuan Sijun, after a victory over Ali Carter (3-0), to move on to the 3rd Round, on Friday.
Ronnie O’Sullivan was useless to beat compatriot Ali Carter, 3-1, in the night session: both already knew that they were eliminated beforehand.
At Leicester’s Morningside Arena, it was a new day of Chinese hegemony: five of the six qualified for the final stage of the competition, on Friday, come from the giants of the East: Pang Junxu, but also now the only one in the ‘top 10’ world already guaranteed a place in the Final Phase of the competition, the champion of the UK Championship, Zhao Xintong, 35 years old, sixth in the hierarchy.
If Pang Junxu won Group A, on the same day ‘The Cyclone’ (Xintong) won Group D. Triumphs over compatriot Chang Bingyu (3-0) and Englishman Gary Wilson (3-0) sealed their qualification and made the meeting with the Northern Irishman Mark Allen a mere formality (2-2).
Junxu and Xintong join Lu Ning (Group E), Xiao Guodong (Group H) and Lyu Haotian (Group F) to complete a handful of Chinese among the six (out of eight) already qualified for the Final Round: the English Stuart Bingham, world champion in 2015 and winner of Group C, is the only exception to confirm the rule of dominance of the Chinese in the English tournament.
The last two qualified for the Final Phase. Thursday, the 28th. In Group G, English Shaun Murphy (2005 world champion) and fellow countrymen Ricky Walden, Anthony Hamilton and Elliot Slessor will be in action at the Morningside Arena; in Group B, the Belgian Luca Brecel, the English Chris Wakelin and the Welsh Jamie Clarke and Daniel Wells discuss the other spot in the eight for Friday.
The Championship League started on the 28th of June, will conclude on Friday, the 29th of the current month, scores for the ranking and distributes 328 thousand pounds in prizes (€390 thousand), with the Englishman David Gilbert winning in 2021.
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