WOorld up winners Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong faced off against each other in the last 32 of the Betway UK Snooker Championship in York - and have impressed. The teenagers, who won last season's World Cup as the China B team, have been regular names in the last 32s/16s of tournaments, and in York were no exception.
However, it was the older teen Zhou Yuelong who was victorious this time beating the 16-year-old Yan in a decider 6 - 5. Both Yuelong and Bingtao practice at the highly regarded Victoria Snooker Academy in Sheffield, along with a host of other top players from across the globe.
Victoria Shi who owns the club in Sheffield wrote on Facebook: "Both players played well and have a bright future in the game."
O'Sullivan drops one
'A legend in the making' - Barry Hearn called it in 1993. pic.twitter.com/NE3yAQ5BEz
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 25, 2016
Ronnie O'Sullivan sailed into the last 16, and only dropped one frame in three matches. He also had a rant on snooker and said it was like a car boot sale of sports after his match with Michael Georgiou but then turned and said it was an insult that the game only received 10 seconds of coverage on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year at the end of the year.
O'Sullivan won his first of five UKs when he was only 17 in 1993. He turns 41 in a few days time.
O'Sullivan told World Snooker his firepower is back. (see video) Earlier on in the UK, O'Sullivan tweeted that God had told him to quit snooker, but he added; "But I've put that on the back-burner for now." In his match with Georgiou, O'Sullivan played more mind games in the first frame when although Georgiou had won the frame Ronnie came back to the table and made a small clearance, it then led to O'Sullivan riding out a comfortable 6 - 1 winner.
He said after he needed more of a "challenge."
John Higgins through
The Wizard of Wishaw John Higgins comfortably progressed through to the last 16 beating Ben Woollaston 6 - 2, but it was a slightly below-par Higgins in the last 32 - despite his run of great form in the last three tournaments, including the two non-ranking ones he won on the bounce in the past month.
18-year-old Zhou Yuelong will either face Shaun Murphy or Dominic Dale in the last 16. Maximum man Mark Allen will face Welshman Ryan Day. Mark Selby the World number one is still also in the event. John Higgins and O'Sullivan are competing for the prospect of winning their 29th ranking titles. Who will get there first?
