CRI听力:The Sport of Snooker Becomes a Popular Activity among the Chinese

In the last several years the game of snooker has declined in popularity in many parts of the world, however here in China it has thrived and it continues to grow.

Players love to come here. Players love to play here because the fans go crazy. It is unlike any other place in the world.

So what makes snooker so popular in China.

It can somewhat be explained for China's love of cue sports.

Pool and billiards have been popular forms of recreation for a long time, with games often taking place in the streets, but it's only been recently that Snooker has captured the attention of the Chinese.

Head of the Press Office at World Snooker Ivan Hirschowitz believes it's only been in the last seven years that the sport saw its most growth.

"It really took off in 2005 when we staged the China Open in Beijing and Ding Junhui beat Stephen Hendry in the final and I think that was the catalyst for the explosion and interest in snooker in China."

Now...many suggest that more then 300 million people play snooker in China. Far more then any other country combined.

The game of snooker was introduced in the 1980s by promoter Barry Hearn, who staged multiple events in China. The game continued to develop in the 1990s as more people started to play. Many places started to offer snooker clubs, which allowed anyone to learn and play the game.
 
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association then decided to run a series of professional tournaments in the late 1990s, which increased the exposure of the sport.

The game went to even greater heights with the emergence and success of China's own Ding Junhui.

It's always important for any country to have a player who people can get behind and someone who can sphere head the popularity of the sport and Ding Junhui was that player.

"I think it was just fantastic for the Chinese audience to see there own player facing the best players in the world winning in China and coming over to the UK and winning big tournaments here. I think there was a real sense of national pride in what Ding was doing and I think a lot of people became interested in snooker as a result of that"

Having a successful Chinese player abd having tournaments like the Beijing China Open it continues to help the sport grow, especially as more Chinese players enter the professional ranks.

Next year the World Snooker Tour is planning to have 5 ranking events here in China increasing the number of events in China by two.

So the future of Snooker in China is bright with more Chinese players playing then ever before and more events on TV the game can only gain more awareness.
 
"Over the next 5-10 years there will be more very very talented players coming out of China. Chinese players could come to dominate the game and there might be 8 or 10 Chinese players in the top 16. We don't know that's going to happen but just by the shear wait of numbers and the quality of the training and the coaching that's going on in China now. That will seem almost inevitable."

Having seen the popularity of snooker fall in many places in recent years the development of snooker in China can only be a good thing as the sport looks to have a more global future.

For CRI I'm Nate Schlabach.