By Elliott West
“He’s a strange player”
Neal Foulds
Introduction
Yan Bingtao is a Chinese conundrum whose future a fortune cookie couldn’t even foretell. Despite his immense talent and the fact that he is seen by some, as the best of the new Chinese players breaking through into snooker, this twenty year old is unpredictable and you never know which Bingtao will show up for a match. First seen as an amateur wildcard, aged just 13, Yan displayed all the makings of a future champion but his first major title didn’t come until he won the Riga Masters in 2019.
“He’s probably the only 20-year-old who could compete with me in the safety department”.
“Yan is 20 but seems to have the experience of someone who’s 40”.
“I can’t praise him highly enough. He’s got all the attributes, hunger, determination to win these events”.
Neil Robertson
Career
Born in 2000 in Zibo, Shandong Province, China, Bingtao first sparkled, aged just 11, when he reached the final of the Zibo City Championship and the following year, he became Shandong Provincial Champion. After a stellar beginning, Yan began to feature in professional tournaments in the 2013-14 season, aged only thirteen, such as the Asian Players Tour Championship events and as a wildcard in Chinese ranking tournaments.
Soon Bingtao was beating professional players with his first win coming against Vinnie Calbrese in the 2013 Yixing Open. He also reached the last 32 of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and the 2014 Shanghai Masters. Motoring on, Yan won the IBSF World Snooker Championship, beating Muhammad Sajjad in the final, 8-7 and as consequence, received a two year tour card, being the youngest ever player, aged fourteen. However, due to a visa issue, he was unable to take part In the Australian Goldfields Open. Subsequently he entered the 2015 Snooker World Cup in the China B team with his playing partner, Zhou Yuelong. The winning combination reached the final and beat Scotland, 4-1 to claim the title and pocket a cheque for $200,000.
Wins also came in the 2017 Asian Indoors and Martial Arts Games where Yan won gold and bronze medals for Six Reds single and team events. After a brief break to complete his education, Bingtao returned to the tour in 2017.In the interim, he had reached the quarter-final stage of the Champion of Champions, losing to Neil Robertson, 6-3. He also won the amateur title, the San Yuan Cup at the end of the season. He was runner-up to Mark Williams in the 2017 Northern Ireland Open, losing narrowly, 8-9.
The highlight of Yan’s career though, has to be his fantastic victory at the 2019 Riga Masters, where he produced a convincing victory against Mark Joyce in the final, beating him, 5-2. However this triumph has not to date, led to greater things, leaving the Chinese player open to criticism. Perhaps though, his appearance in the Masters this year, may be a turning point, having already produced a famous victory against Neil Robertson, holding his nerve in the deciding frame, to defeat the Australian, 6-5.
“I think its’s a success for me to take part in the Masters as I have only been playing professionally for four to five years”.
Yan Bingtao
Summary
Yan Bingtao clearly doesn’t fear any player he is drawn against and is capable of beating anyone. I feel his problem for not winning more titles, is clearly a mindset issue. He reminds me a lot of his Chinese colleague, Ding Junhui, who often loses matches, thanks to a defeatist temperament. A clear example of the two sides of Ding being shown in his 5-6 loss to Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Masters this week after having a 5-3 lead in the match. Both players are clearly highly skilled but they are unable to break down their mental brick walls. A feat that will clearly be easier to rectify with Yan as he is only twenty.
Otherwise, Yan Bingtao impresses me. He has the complete skill set to play competitive snooker to a high standard and has mastered a very effective safety game that can tie the best of the best in knots. Bingtao is also very good at hiding his emotions when he plays and never appears vulnerable to his opponent. His ranking of 11 at such a young age is highly impressive and he has already produced 91 century breaks to date. Having already made £379,925 through snooker, Bingtao will produce more titles, the evidence is there to see. Critics of this young man, need to be patient, they will be pleasantly surprised.
