Stephen Hendry feels another Chinese talent is ready to make the breakthrough at the very top of snooker, following world champion Wu Yize.
The 22-year-old sensationally became world champion earlier this month, beating Shaun Murphy 18-17 in an epic Crucible final.
Wu had also downed Mark Allen in dramatic circumstances, edging the Pistol 17-16 in the semis, after beating Hossein Vafaei, Mark Selby and Lei Peifan in earlier rounds.
The dashing young cueist is the second world champion from China after Zhao Xintong had conquered the Crucible a year earlier.
Zhao is third in the world rankings with Wu one place below him and seven-time world champion Hendry feels the world number 48 will soon be joining them in the upper echelons of snooker.
‘At the moment the Chinese are taking over, the last two world champions, Xintong won four tournaments this year,’ said on his Cue Tips YouTube channel.
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‘Chang Bingyu, he’s the next one I think we’re going to see winning major tournaments.’
23-year-old Chang returned to the professional tour last season after being suspended as part of the match-fixing scandal in December 2022 and later banned.
He came back with a bang, reaching his first ranking final at December’s Scottish Open, beating Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Mark Allen before losing to Chris Wakelin.
The rising Chinese star then turned in a stunning performance to beat Shaun Murphy at the Welsh Open in February.
Breaks of 130, 136, 119 and 130 gave Chang a 4-0 win and a 100 per cent pot success rate at the end of the match.
‘That’s the best performance in a best of seven match I’ve ever seen,’ Murphy told the BBC. ‘If that was Ronnie O’Sullivan or Judd Trump it would be on the news. It was quite literally the best performance I’ve ever witnessed in a match of that length.
‘I’ve got nothing but good things to say. What a performance. What a player.’
Chang very nearly got in the way of snooker history as well, leading Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 at the Saudi Arabia Masters last August, before losing 6-5.
The Rocket went on to make two 147s in the same match as he beat Chris Wakelin in the semi-finals.
‘He looks good. I played him in Saudi, I was lucky to beat him,’ O’Sullivan said of Chang. ‘I rate him quite a bit. I really think he’s good.’
While he didn’t land a trophy last season, Chang did pocket a huge financial prize by making a 147 in both UK Championship and World Championship qualifying.
Those two maximums saw the Scottish Open finalist win a £147,000 bonus.
He fell short in World Championship qualifying, beaten by Luca Brecel, but there is plenty more prize money coming his way in the near future.
Who is Chang Bingyu?
Chang Bingyu’s early promise
Chang was a wildly talented junior player, winning the 2018 IBSF World Snooker Championship at just 16 years old, having made a maximum in tournament play at just 14.
He joined the professional tour in 2019 as a teenager, moving to Sheffield as a result, and he picked up some encouraging wins, but the global pandemic disrupted his progress as he returned to China and missed some events.
A run to the 2020 UK Championship last 32 was probably the highlight of his early pro career, before he was suspended in December 2022 as part of the match-fixing scandal.
Why was Chang Bingyu banned?
Chang admitted to fixing a match against Jamie Jones at the 2022 British Open, losing 4-1, but did so as a result of pressure and influence from Liang Wenbo, who subsequently received a lifetime ban.
The Disciplinary Commission’s findings read that Chang ‘accepted that he on 28th September 2022 had fixed a snooker match that he was playing in.’
He gave evidence to the commission that he was called by Liang Wenbo on the morning of the match ‘with a threatening tone’ and told that Liang ‘had placed a lot of money on his bet without my knowledge, for my match with Jamie Jones that evening.’
Chang ‘reluctantly agreed’ but said he never received the money he was told he would be given for the fix.
The independent tribunal’s findings on Chang read: ‘We have found that Chang fixed or contrived, or was a party to an effort to fix or contrive, the result or score of a snooker match on one occasion.
‘We note that, at the time that his match fixing took place, Chang was aged 20. He was young and impressionable and under the influence of Liang, of whom he was scared. Chang has given evidence that he thought Liang would take action against him if he did not comply with Liang’s demands. We accept that, in all probability, Chang would not have offended absent that element of threat. He was also suffering financial difficulties at the time, he has shown genuine remorse for his actions and he admitted his office at the earliest opportunity. There is no suggestion that Chang committed any betting offence.’
Chang was given a three-year ban in June 2023 for fixing a match, reduced to two years following early admissions and his plea of guilty, which kept him out of snooker until December 2024 – backdated to his original suspension.
A rapid rise on return
Chang quickly won his place back on tour after being able to compete again, winning the Asia-Pacific Snooker Championship by beating Ryan Thomerson 6-1 in the final in April last year.
He has been very impressive since regaining his place on the professional circuit, with his best run so far this season coming at the Scottish Open in December were he reached the final.
He beat Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Mark Allen before losing to Chris Wakelin in his first final.
Speaking to World Snooker Tour about his return to the game, Chang explained the huge amount of practice he was putting in with his coach Li Jianbing back in China, before a move back to Sheffield.
‘I was based at Coach Li’s academy and the schedule was very structured, I would practise from 9am to around 8:30pm every day,’ he said. ‘Everything was very disciplined, and he really helped me get into good form. I’m now based at Ding Junhui’s academy in Sheffield and I still have long, focused practice sessions daily, around six to seven hours.’
He added that two of the brightest young talents in the game, Si Jiahui and Wu Yize, have been his rivals through their young careers and he intends to reach their level as quickly as possible.
‘Over the past two years, I have gained perspective,’ he said. ‘Now I approach matches with a much calmer mindset. My goal is to catch up with players like Wu Yize and Si Jiahui. We grew up playing each other together, and they’ve both made great strides so I’d like to follow their lead.
‘We’ve been close since we were kids. Seeing them succeed definitely motivates me to push harder.’