Liu Chuang (snooker player)

Liu Chuang (Chinese: 刘闯, pinyin: Liú Chuǎng, born 6 June 1990) is a Chinese former professional snooker player.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Liu.
Liu Chuang
Liu Chuang at the 2014 German Masters
Born (1990-06-06) June 6, 1990
Liaoning Province
Sport country China
Professional2007–2009, 2010–2016
Highest ranking47 (September–October, November–December 2012)[1]
Career winnings£99,593[2]
Highest break139:
2012 World Championship (qualifying)
Century breaks43[2]
Best ranking finishLast 32 (2007 China Open, 2008 World Championship, 2012 World Championship)
Medal record
Men's snooker
Representing  China
Asian Indoor Games
2007 Macau Team

Early life

Liu grew up in Liaoning province in northeast China. Near his parents' house there was a snooker table and when he was 10 he played on it and liked it a lot. His father noticed his potential, and supported him as did the person who owned that table, who became his first coach.

When he was 13, Liu travelled thousands of miles to play in southern China, where there were more professionals. There he improved and began to play competitive matches. In 2007, the chairman of the Asian Snooker Association saw his potential, and he gained a wild card in the China Open.

Career

Junior

In 2005, Liu was a runner-up in a national junior tournament in China.[3] In 2006, Liu reached the final of a senior national tournament.[3]

Senior

Liu first came to the attention of the snooker world when he was picked as a wildcard to enter the 2007 China Open.[3] Liu was victorious over Andy Hicks, beating him 5–4. That set up a meeting with Liu's idol,[3] Ronnie O'Sullivan; Liu lost the match 1–5.

He reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 Asian Snooker Championship,[3] where he lost 4–5 to Yasin Merchant.

In the 2008 World Championship he qualified for the main stage, He beat Colin Mitchell 10–0, Lee Walker 10–9 Joe Delaney 10–5, David Gray 10–5, and then Dominic Dale 10–9 to become only the fourth 17-year-old player to qualify for the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump. Liu was drawn to play O'Sullivan in the first round. Despite being 0–3 down, Liu came back in the first session and levelled at 4–4, before O'Sullivan eventually won the game 10–5. Liu was relegated from the Main Tour after the following season.

On 15 April 2010, he won the Asian Under 21 Snooker Championship, after defeating Thanawat Tirapaipongboon 10–5 in the final.[4] With this he qualified for the 2010/2011 professional Main Tour.

2011/2012 season

Liu began the season ranked world number 60, meaning he would need to win three qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the ranking event tournaments.[5] He did not achieve this until the final and biggest tournament on the snooker calendar, the World Championship. He beat Rod Lawler 10–7, Jimmy White 10–8 and Jamie Cope 10–7 to reach the Crucible for the second time in his career.[6] Liu was one of five Asian players to make it to the event, which was a new record.[7] He played two-time world champion Mark Williams in the first round and was beaten 6–10,[8] to finish the season ranked number 56, inside the top 64 who automatically retain their places for the 2012–13 season.[5]

2012/2013 season
Liu Chuang at the 2013 German Masters

The 2012–13 season proved to be less successful for Liu as he failed to qualify for any of the ranking events.[9] He played in seven of the ten minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events with his best finish coming in the last two European Tour tournaments, where he lost in the last 32 in both. He was ranked 72nd on the PTC Order of Merit.[10] Liu's season ended when he lost in the second round of World Championship Qualifying 9–10 to Dechawat Poomjaeng, which saw him placed world number 54 in the rankings.[11][12]

2013/2014 season
Liu Chuang at the 2014 German Masters

Liu received first round entry into the UK Championship and Welsh Open as all 128 players on the snooker tour began at the venue stage. It was at these events where Liu won his only matches in ranking events this season. In the UK he beat Tony Drago 6–1, before losing 6–5 against Robert Milkins and at the Welsh he saw off Chen Zhe 4–2, but was then whitewashed 4–0 by Joe Perry.[13] Chuang reached two quarter-finals in Asian Tour events during the 2013–14 season, at the Yixing Open and Zhengzhou Open, losing 4–0 to Mark Selby and 4–2 to Liang Wenbo respectively.[13] Chuang finished outside of the top 64 in the world rankings and would have been relegated from the tour, however, his placing of 12th on the Asian Order of Merit has seen him earn a fresh two-year card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons by claiming the third of four spots available to non-qualified players.[14]

2014/2015 season

Liu entered the qualifying rounds of three ranking events this season and lost his first match in each. His only wins came at the Yixing Open where he beat Michael Tomlinson and Wang Heng, before losing 4–0 to Li Hang in the last 32. Liu has not played in an event since October 2014.[15]

Chinese 8 Ball

Liu made it to the final of the 2016 World Chinese 8 Ball Masters and lost to Yang Fan 12–9. The match was a best of 25 race to 13, but the 110 minute time limit ran out.

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16
Ranking[16][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 81 [nb 4] [nb 3] 60 56 54 [nb 5] 122
Ranking Tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ A
Shanghai Masters Not Held WR LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ A A
International Championship Not Held LQ LQ LQ A
UK Championship A A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ 2R WD A
German Masters Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R A A
Welsh Open A A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ 2R A A
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 6] Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open WR 1R LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ A A
World Championship A A 1R LQ A LQ 1R LQ LQ A A
Non-Ranking Tournaments
Masters A A LQ LQ A A A A A A A
Variant Format Tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 7] Not Held A A RR NH A A A A
Shoot-Out Not Held A 1R 3R A A A
Former Ranking Tournaments
Northern Ireland Trophy NR A LQ LQ Not Held
Bahrain Championship Not Held LQ Not Held
World Open[nb 8] A A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 9] Not Held Non-ranking LQ LQ LQ NH
Indian Open Not Held 1R A NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic[nb 9] Not Held RR A A A Ranking Event
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. He was an amateur.
  3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. He was an amateur.
  5. Players qualified through Asian Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.
  6. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  7. The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  8. The event run under different name as Grand Prix (2005/2006–2009/2010)
  9. The event ran under the name Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
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References
  1. Sources:
  2. "Career-total Statistics for Liu Chuang – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  3. An email conversation with snooker starlet Liu Chuang
  4. "2010 Asian Under 21 Snooker Championship". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  5. "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  6. "Liu Chuang". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  7. "Liang Survives Campbell Fight-Back". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  8. "World Snooker Championship 2012: Williams to face O'Sullivan". BBC Sport. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  9. "Liu Chuang 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  10. "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  11. "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  12. "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  13. "Liu Chuang 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  14. "Asian Order of Merit 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  15. "Liu Chuang 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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