14-year-old snooker sensation beats two pros in a day at International Championship

The latest eye-catching snooker talent to emerge from China has announced himself on the scene as 14-year-old Wang Xinzhong won two games in the same day at the International Championship.

The ranking event held in Nanjing got underway on Sunday, with Wang given a wildcard to compete alongside the professionals of the World Snooker Tour.

The youngster took on women’s world champion Bai Yulu in the opening round and managed to beat the 22-year-old 6-4.

This was despite Bai showing her immense quality by making the highest break ever by a female player in a ranking event, a 145 in the seventh frame.

That put the women’s world champ 4-3 ahead, but Wang won the next three frames to book his spot in the first round proper.

There he took on experienced campaigner Robbie Williams, a 38-year-old who has been on tour since 2012, reached three ranking semi-finals and played at the Crucible on four occasions.

The Englishman is no pushover but the schoolboy dealt with him very impressively, winning 6-1 with breaks of 97, 66 and 76 along the way.

Things will step up a few notches for Wang in the next round where he will take on reigning Masters champion and recent winner of the British Open, Shaun Murphy.

That clash takes place on Monday and the Magician will be treating the teenager with plenty of respect after his back-to-back wins in short order on Sunday.

It is not actually the first time we have seen Wang win in a professional tournament as he was given a wildcard for the same tournament in 2023 and beat Gong Chenzhi 6-5.

He was just 12 years old at the time, but Gong was also competing as an amateur, so he has stepped up in achievement by downing Bai and Williams in Nanjing on Sunday.

Elsewhere on the opening day of the International Championship, Ronnie O’Sullivan narrowly avoided a big upset against Allan Taylor.

The Rocket found himself 2-0 and 4-2 behind to the world number 76 but then turned on the style in the second half of the match.

From 4-2 down O’Sullivan made four centuries in five frames, with breaks of 100, 119, 129 and 128 to book a meeting with Sanderson Lam in the next round.

Speaking positively after the win, the 49-year-old said: ‘I’m enjoying playing. It never feels like a grind when you are cueing well. I always think that if I am cueing good, then results don’t really matter. I’m enjoying playing more than I have done for maybe over a decade now.’

In terms of shocks the biggest was probably Jiang Jun beating Chris Wakelin 6-2 as the 20-year-old, ranked 111 in the world, got the better of the man at number 17 in the rankings.

Jiang will now play compatriot He Guoqiang in the last 32 after He beat former world champion Stuart Bingham 6-4.

There were also wins for the likes of Judd Trump, defending champion Ding Junhui, 2023 champ Zhang Anda, Mark Selby, world champion Zhao Xintong and in-form Gary Wilson.

Newly crowned Northern Ireland Open champion Jack Lisowski gets his campaign underway on Monday against Louis Heathcote.

Having finally landed his first ranking title after 15 years as a professional, Jackpot said in Nanjing: ‘It isn’t like I’ve completed snooker. I’m back on the wheel. It is cool to be at another tournament. I hope that reflects in my snooker and I can start playing well more regularly.

‘I’ve practised hard before coming out here. I’m trying to keep it going. I could have gone on holiday but I thought I had to strike while the iron is hot. Everyone coming up and saying well done has been great and is a bit different!’

The International Championship is being shown live on TNT Sports and Discovery+ in the UK.