Yuan Sijun

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

Yuan Sijun
Born (2000-05-29) 29 May 2000
Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
Sport country China
Professional2017–
Highest ranking43 (February 2020)
Current ranking 61 (as of 8 February 2021)
Career winnings£117,462
Highest break140:
2020 UK Championship
Century breaks34
Best ranking finishSemi-finals (2019 Gibraltar Open)

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 2015 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 Chusak Phetmalaikul.

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21
Ranking[8][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 71 53 45
Ranking tournaments
European Masters Tournament Not Held A 1R 1R LQ 1R
English Open Tournament Not Held A 3R 3R 2R 2R
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held A 2R 2R 4R 3R
UK Championship A A A A 1R 1R 2R 1R
Scottish Open Tournament Not Held A 1R 3R 2R 1R
World Grand Prix NH NR DNQ DNQ DNQ QF DNQ DNQ
German Masters A A A A LQ 2R 1R 1R
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event A 1R 1R 1R WD
Welsh Open A A A A 1R 2R 2R
Players Championship DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR A 1R SF 2R
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held RR
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A A A LQ LQ A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship A A RR 3R A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters WR WR WR 1R 1R Non-Rank. NH
Indian Open A A NH A LQ 2R Not Held
China Open WR WR 2R A 1R 1R Not Held
Riga Masters NH MR A LQ LQ 2R NH
International Championship WR A A 1R LQ 3R 1R NH
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ QF 1R NH
World Open 1R Not Held A LQ 1R LQ NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Haining Open NH MR 1R A A A NH
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. He was an amateur.
  3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.

Career finals

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2019 Huizhou Open Pang Junxu 5–2[9]

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2015 Asian Under-21 Championship Sunny Akani 4–6
Winner 1. 2017 Asian Under-21 Championship 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". Snooker.org. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  5. "European Masters 2017 Qualifiers". Snooker.org. 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.
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