“Sensational.”
Neal Foulds
Introduction
Xiao Guodong is mild-mannered, quietly spoken and just that nice guy who you will see in a snooker club practising for hours. A player who has always been seen as someone with tremendous potential but just outside the cusp of victory. Yet snooker is an unpredictable sport. One minute, you are in the doldrums, and the next, a switch flicks, and your game’s elements click into gear. For this Chinese player, Bolton has been that lightning-bolt environment required. The Champion of Champions event saw Guodong beat Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby in one day after being 3-0 down in both matches and eliminating Mark Allen, producing the fantastic statistic of this player becoming the first-ever Chinese player to reach a Champion of Champions final since its conception in 2013. A tournament resurrected from a previous event created by the boxing promoter Mike Barrett in 1978.
The Magic of Guodong
This former winner of the 2007 Asian Amateur Under -21 Championship, 2008 Paul Hunter English Open, runner-up at the 2013 Shanghai Masters and twice runner-up at the Snooker Shootout in 2015 and 2017, has already won one ranking title, the 2024 Wuhan Open, where he defeated Si Jiahui 10-7 in the final. A player who is so humble, he apologised in his post-match interview after beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in Bolton after being 3-0 down in the match. He is someone who I greatly admire because even when the chips are down, he keeps plugging away. His long game is breathtaking, slotting balls into pockets many players would shy away from—a Chinese wonder who knows precisely when to strike. The opportune moment produces excellent safety play, high breaks and vital pots that win him the frame.
His performance in Bolton has caused a massive shockwave. Many thought this was Ronnie’s opportunity to land a blow on an event that he had already won four times. Yet one by one, all the usual suspects have fallen by the wayside and with only Neil Robertson and Mark Williams left to fight out a final place against him, Xiao is just moments away from potentially lifting this prized crown. It remains to be seen who he will face in the final, but whoever it is will have to step up their game to beat this player who has reached his ultimate form. The Guodong roadshow is still rolling and looks unlikely to run out of petrol soon.
