Yuan Sijun

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Yuan Sijun
Born (2000-05-29) 29 May 2000 (age 21)
Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
Sport country China
Professional2017–present
Highest ranking43 (February 2020)
Current ranking 106 (as of 20 December 2021)
Best ranking finishSemi-final (x1)

Yuan Sijun (Chinese: 袁思俊; born 29 May 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player.

Career[]

Yuan started to play snooker at the age of 10 and played as a wildcard in many professional tournaments between ages of 13 and 16. Yuan first drew attention in 2016 when, at the age of 15, he defeated world number 13 Martin Gould in a 5–0 whitewash in the opening round of the 2016 China Open before losing 2–5 to Graeme Dott.[1][2][3] Remarkably, when he again faced Martin Gould in the 2016 Shanghai Masters in October 2016, he produced the same result, a 5–0 win.

In 2015, Yuan entered the ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship where he reached the final, but lost eventually to Akani Songsermsawad. Two years later, Yuan once again made it to the final, where he defeated Fan Zhengyi 6–2 to win the Asian Under-21 Championship; as a result, he was given a two-year card on the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. Yuan began the 2017–18 as the youngest player on the professional tour.

2017/2018 season[]

Yuan's first match as a professional was a narrow loss to Oliver Lines in the 2017 Riga Masters qualifiers on 31 May 2017, two days after his 17th birthday.[4] His first win was a 4–2 defeat of Allan Taylor in the European Masters qualifiers.[5] Yuan's best wins were 4–1 against Joe Perry in the English Open (which included two centuries), and 5–4 against Shaun Murphy in the Shanghai Masters. In the World Championship, he beat Fergal O'Brien 10–5, before losing 10–9 to Matthew Stevens, despite leading 9-7 and missing several chances to win. In total Yuan managed only 8 wins in his first season, and ended the season ranked 92.

2018/2019 season[]

With wins over Ricky Walden, Alexander Ursenbacher, Ding Junhui and Mark King, Yuan reached his first quarter-final at the China Championship, before losing to World No.1 Mark Selby. For the next few months, he progressed steadily, beating the likes of Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson. In the German Masters, he beat 4-time World Champion John Higgins 5–4 on the final black, somewhat controversially as the cue-ball appeared to touch the rest (a foul stroke) after the players had shaken hands.

Yuan's solid results in the first half of the 2018/19 season lifted him into the top-32 on the 1-year rankings, thus qualifying for the World Grand Prix in Cheltenham. He beat World Champion Mark Williams 4-3 and Stephen Maguire 4–2 to reach his second quarter-final, losing to flatmate Xiao Guodong 5–4.

Just shy of his 19th birthday, Yuan made remarkable progress in the 2018/19 season. He attracted praise from commentators Jimmy White, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry, who described him as 'one of the best youngsters since the likes of Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, or John Higgins'.[6]

2019/2020 season[]

In the International Championship Yuan suffered an agonising loss on the final black to Shaun Murphy 6–5, despite making 8 breaks over 50. This contributed to a loss of form, reaching the last 16 only once, in the Northern Ireland Open.

2020/2021 season[]

At the tail end of 2020, Yuan's most notable achievement so far this season would be advancing to the third round of the Northern Ireland Open, beating fellow country man Luo Honghao, Tom Ford, and eventually losing 4–0 to Ding Junhui.[7]

Personal[]

At the start of the 2018/2019 season, Yuan Sijun moved to Darlington and is based at the Q House Academy, managed by .

Performance and rankings timeline[]

Tournament 2013/
14 		2014/
15 		2015/
16 		2016/
17 		2017/
18 		2018/
19 		2019/
20 		2020/
21 		2021/
22
Ranking[8][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 71 53 45 [nb 4]
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR RR
British Open Tournament Not Held 1R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held A 2R 2R 4R 3R 1R
English Open Tournament Not Held A 3R 3R 2R 2R LQ
UK Championship A A A A 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R
Scottish Open Tournament Not Held A 1R 3R 2R 1R LQ
World Grand Prix NH NR DNQ DNQ DNQ QF DNQ DNQ DNQ
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event A 1R 1R 1R WD
German Masters A A A A LQ 2R 1R 1R LQ
Players Championship[nb 5] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
European Masters Tournament Not Held A 1R 1R LQ 1R
Welsh Open A A A A 1R 2R 2R 1R
Tournament Not Held
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR A 1R SF 2R 1R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A A A LQ LQ A LQ
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship A A RR 3R A A A Not Held
Former ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters WR WR WR 1R 1R Non-Ranking Not Held
Indian Open A A NH A LQ 2R Tournament Not Held
China Open WR WR 2R A 1R 1R Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 6] NH Minor-Ranking A LQ LQ 2R Not Held
International Championship WR A A 1R LQ 3R 1R Not Held
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ QF 1R Not Held
World Open 1R Not Held A LQ 1R LQ Not Held
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held RR NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Haining Open NH Minor-Ranking 1R A A A Not Held
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) 		QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ^ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ^ a b c d He was an amateur.
  3. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. ^ Players qualified through Q School started the season without ranking points.
  5. ^ The event was called the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  6. ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals[]

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)[]

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2019 Huizhou Open China Pang Junxu 5–2[9]

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)[]

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2015 Asian Under-21 Championship Thailand Sunny Akani 4–6
Winner 1. 2017 Asian Under-21 Championship China Fan Zhengyi 6–2

References[]

  1. ^ "Martin Gould thrashed by 15-year-old schoolboy Yuan Sijun at China Open". The Guardian. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  2. ^ "China Open: Martin Gould beaten by Chinese schoolboy Yuan Sijun". BBC Sport. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  3. ^ "Schoolboy Yuan Sijun, 15, stuns world No.13 Martin Gould at China Open". ESPN. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Riga Masters 2017 Qualifiers". . 1 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  5. ^ "European Masters 2017 Qualifiers". . 4 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  6. ^ "Hendry picks out 'one of the best youngsters since the likes of O'Sullivan'". Metro. 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  7. ^ "DING JUNHUI - YUAN SIJUN". www.eurosport.com. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  8. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  9. ^ "Yuan Wins First CBSA Title". WST. Retrieved 30 January 2020.

External links[]

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