CRI听力:No Chinese players reach quarterfinals of UK Snooker Championship

China's world NO.8 Ding Junhui suffered a surprise 6-4 defeat to Englishman Martin O'Donnell, ranked world NO.59, in the round of 16 at the UK Snooker Championship.

China's 24 players have all gone out.

It's been nine years since China's players won the World Snooker Championship last time in 2009. People from different sides have shared their opinions on this.

Led by Ding Junhui, 24 of the 128 final candidates of the UK Snooker Championship were from China, breaking a record of the number of Chinese players participating in the game.

But unfortunately, no Chinese player was able to reach the quarterfinals.

China's NO.1 snooker Ding Junhui said part of the reason is because relatively fewer snooker competitions were held in China compared to the world. So, he said, many young players lack that kind of experience.

"The average level of Chinese team is getting better and better, but the competitions held in China are still relatively fewer, so we have fewer opportunities to participate in competitions. The contests we competed in are mainly the world professional tournaments. With the improvement of our overall skills, we need to have more domestic competitions to gain experience."

Lu Ning is ranked NO.112 in the world snookers, and he also made it to the round of 16 -- his first time to reach that deep into a tournament.

"Actually we're left behind in many areas, such as skills and defending. And some players have high skills, but didn't play well in the game. You're restrained. I feel like Chinese players are easier to get nervous than other foreign players."

Barry Hearn is the president of World Snooker. He said that the only thing Chinese players lack is experience.

"The potentials of Chinese young players are enormous because they have the passion, that they keep working hard, they have the ability, they lack the experience. There's no fast track for experience. It takes time."