A World Championship in China.

[Dunney]

World Snooker are seriously thinking about moving the World Championship from The Crucible to China but I wonder would the World Championships be a success in China and how long will it be before we have a player from China crowned World Champion?

[wildJONESEYE]

it would be a massive mistake and inspired by greed to go to china at the moment.....

it will be seen as desperation rather than structurally sound....

moving something that works and is a success out of desperation and greed is not the answer long term all that will do is rip the heart of the game to shred's....

maybe in the future when snooker is back on it feet and they get a proper venue with a good atmosphere it might work but that day is long off......

[RocketRoy1983]

A duplicate thread of many existing ones BUT your question on when a Chinese player will win the worlds...My answer is I dont think there will be one.

[Dunney]

Many of the players would be willing if the money was right. The question is 'Would anyone in China be willing to put a serious amount of money forward?' and also is there a venue out there that could match the crucible?

[Forman]

A duplicate thread of many existing ones BUT your question on when a Chinese player will win the worlds...My answer is I dont think there will be one.

you dont think there will ever be a chinese world champion roy?, i dont think it will happen this year but i think it could happen within the next 10

[shiyii]

Many of the players would be willing if the money was right. The question is 'Would anyone in China be willing to put a serious amount of money forward?' and also is there a venue out there that could match the crucible?

speechless!
i have to say you are really out of date!!

[wildhoney28]

World Championships at the Crucible should be forever.
It's like Wimbledon in tennis.
Augusta in golf.
or Champs Elysees in Tour de France.
Could be million of snooker events in China or wherever.
But this one must remain here.
Hands off Crucible!

[Phil]

no, sorry, but it would be a mistake to go to China. some things just have to stay the way they are and don't need to be changed. the tour de france in Russia? icehockey in Bahrain? football in South Africa? wait... that last one really is happening

[brettski]

It should stay here at its roots, however I'm not saying we shouldnt have comps out there and bring more snooker to China I'm all for the advancement of the game and for it to be more popular and accessible all over the world. As for the question of a world champion from China if young aspiring players keep coming through the ranks I see no reason why they couldn't be a world champion from China. All they have to do is beat the best players in the world easy eh?

[rollingegg]

I'm a Chinese, but to be fair, I don't think it's a good idea to move world championship from Crucible to China, not in the next 5 years at least, maybe 10 or 15. It would be lovely to get to watch top matches in the neighborhood, but people in this country are not ready for such events. No offence to my fellows, but lots of them do not know how to behave during the game, cell phones, camera flashes... which annoys good number of pros, TBH, that even annoys me just watching it. People should go to watch it because they understand and appreciate the beauty of the game, not because they can afford it. I hope time does his job, and sometime in the future, world snooker championship would come out from Crucible, not necessarily to China, but any place where snooker is popular, like the world cup.

And about a Chinese world champion, it's just a matter of time IMO. Ding Junhui is not one, for sure. But Liang Wenbo, maybe, who knows.

[ken147]

I think Ding will rediscover his winning mentality for the big tournaments, he such a good player!!! I have seen him more relaxed now, maturing and adapting to life in UK. Watch this space. Ding to win worlds within 3 years!!!

As for a Worlds in China??? I think not, there is only one crucible!!! It will never be the same.

[rollingegg]

respectfully, I disagree. He was lucky not dropping out of the top 16 this year. Throughout last season he's been struggling to keep his top 16 position. He really needs to work on his mentality, and it has to be fast.

[poolqjunkie]

I dont see why there will NEVER be a Chinese world champion. The way they are cultivating the game and the players now, it is just a matter of time.

If I have my facts right, it has only been about 10 years since Steve Davis went to China to show them how the game was played. Now, there are Ding and Liang and many other up and coming players. I heard there is a little 13 years old chubby boy who could beat Ding, not sure if it is true. The bottom line is if snooker is going the direction it is today in China, there is bound to be more and more World class Chinese players--soon, one of them could be a World Champion.

The interesting thing about this is that the World Championship now is basically a Championship with 99% UK players--it is like a UK championship with one or two outsiders. If China are able to bring more players into this, we could have a more diverse player base, and a more well represented cross section of players from different parts of the world in what is called a world championship.

[matoski]

The WC must stay in Cricible. First of all because that's by far the best venue and it belongs only there. The second is a bit selfish reason. I mean, c'mon, we will miss most of the tv transmissions because of the time difference. (unless someone works third shift in an office with a computer and internet connection).

[matoski]

And, no! There will never be a World Champion from China. Not in a milion years. Ding is fragile, Wenbo is a joke. Who else?