Liu Chuang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Liu.
| Liu Chuang | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 6, 1990 , Liaoning Province |
| Nationality |  China |
| Professional | 2007–present |
| 2008/09 ranking | 81 |
Liu Chuang (Chinese: 刘闯, [[pinyin]: Liú Chuǎng) (born 6 June 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player.
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[edit] Early life
Liu grew up in Liaoning province in northeast China. Near his parents' house there was a snooker table and when he was 10 he played on it and liked it a lot. His father noticed his potential, and supported him as did the person who owned that table, who became his first coach.
When he was 13 Liu travelled thousands of miles to play in southern China, where there were more professionals. There he improved and began to play competitive matches. In 2007, the chairman of the Asian Snooker Association saw his potential, and he gained a wild card in the China Open. He lives in Sheffield, based at the World Snooker Academy as one of six young Chinese players on tour.
[edit] Career
[edit] Junior
In 2005, Liu was a runner up in a national junior tournament in China.[1] In 2006, Liu reached the final of a senior national tournament.[1]
[edit] Senior
Liu first came to the attention of the snooker world when he was picked as a wildcard to enter the 2007 China Open.[1] Liu was victorious over Andy Hicks, beating him 5–4. That set up a meeting with Liu's idol,[1] Ronnie O'Sullivan; Liu lost the match 1–5.
He reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 Asian Snooker Championship,[1] where he lost 4–5 to Yasin Merchant.
In the 2008 World Championship he embarked upon a giant-killing run when he beat Colin Mitchell 10–0, Lee Walker 10–9 Joe Delaney 10–5, David Gray 10–5, and then Dominic Dale 10–9 to become only the 4th 17 year old player to qualify for the crucible after Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump. Liu was drawn to play crucible favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round. Despite being 3-0 down, Liu came back strong in the first session and levelled at 4-4 before losing the last frame of the session. Ronnie proved too strong for Liu in the final session and won 10-5 but the young player had made a name for himself.
