China hits ground running at snooker World Cup

The Chinese teams got off to a strong start on the first day of the Little Swan Snooker World Cup in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on July 3, as both sides swept home to comfortable wins.

The China A team featuring local hero Ding Junhui and world number twelve Liang Wenbo cruised to a 5-0 victory against Ireland in their first match in front of a packed Wuxi Sports Garden Stadium.

Ding Junhui of China A team competes in the first match against Ireland in the 2017 snooker World Cup in Wuxi, China, on July 3. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ding and Liang previously won the World Cup in 2011, and their experience in the competition told as they won the first two frames before winning a scrappy doubles frame with a strong break. The pair then closed off the match confidently with breaks of 78 and 71. They are now top of Group B.

China also had a second reason to be cheerful in Group B, as the Hong Kong team of Marco Fu and Au Chi Wai got off to a good start by beating Germany 4-1. They now sit third in the group, just behind Belgium, who also won their first game 4-1 against Egypt.

Marco Fu of Hong Kong team gets off to a good start by beating Germany 4-1 in the first day of the 2017 snooker World Cup in Wuxi, China, on July 3. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Earlier in the day, the defending champions Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong got their campaign off to a solid start by beating Finland 4-1.

Yan and Zhou caused one of the shocks of the season in 2015 when they came from nowhere to win the previous edition of the World Cup, also held in Wuxi, and they looked confident of repeating the feat here. Finland looked totally outclassed, and the China B pair hit breaks of 55 and 112 on their way to victory.