Liu Chuang

Liu Chuang
birthday	6th June 1990 (age 30)
nationality	People's Republic of China
professional	2007–2009, 2010–2016
Prize money	£ 99,593
Highest break	139 ( WM 2012 , Q)
Century Breaks	43
Main tour successes
World championships	-
Ranking tournament victories	-
Minor tournament victories	-
World rankings
Highest WRL place	47 (Sep. – Oct., Nov. – Dec. 2012)

Liu Chuang ( Chinese  刘 闯 , Pinyin Liú Chuǎng , also Lyu Chuang, born June 6, 1990 ) is a Chinese snooker player from Liaoning Province .

Career

Liu was only the sixth Chinese player on the Main Snooker Tour . He first appeared in 2006 when he received a wild card for the China Open . He lost his opening match against Joe Swail 2-5 . A year later he appeared again in the wildcard round, this time beating Andy Hicks 5: 4. In the first round of the main tournament he met his role model Ronnie O'Sullivan , to whom he lost 5-1.

For the 2007/08 season he was nominated for the Main Tour by the Asian Snooker Association . He had his first successes as a professional in the Masters qualification. He beat Barry Pinches , Martin Gould and David Gilbert and reached the quarterfinals. In addition, he was only successful at the China Open , where he came in round 3. The big surprise came at the end of the season at the World Cup . As a newcomer, he defeated such experienced professionals as Lee Walker , Joe Delaney and David Gray and then played against the Shanghai Masters winner Dominic Dale for a place in the final round at the Crucible . Although Liu was in the lead for a long time and was already 9: 5, the game went into the decisive frame. The Chinese won just 10: 9. In Sheffield he met Ronnie O'Sullivan again and could keep up with him up to 4: 4. In the end, however, he lost 5:10 against the eventual world champion. Overall, it was still not enough for a place in the top 64, which qualified for the next season. However, he got a wildcard from the WPBSA and remained a professional for another year. In the first world ranking tournament of the season, the Northern Ireland Trophy , he reached round 3 and then lost to David Gilbert. After that there were only defeats at the beginning. Only at the UK Championship did he get more world ranking points when he retaliated against Gilbert and got up to round 4. After three further defeats in the beginning he ended the season only in 92nd place and lost his professional status.

In 2009/2010 he enlisted in the Pontin's International Open Series to qualify again, but he only appeared twice and won only one game. As a wildcard player, he qualified for the second time at the China Open with a 5-0 win over Rory McLeod for the last 32. In addition, he reached the quarter-finals at the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship , in which he had to admit defeat to Yasin Merchant 4-5 . He was also twice in the finals of national tournaments. But since he was still a youth player, he also competed in the U21 World Cup . In the semifinals he lost there against the eventual winner Noppon Saengkham . At the U21 Asian Cup , he then reached the final. Against Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon he was already 4-0 and 5-1 ahead and had to accept the equalizer. But again he was able to win an important decision frame and secure the title 6: 5. In this way he succeeded in re-qualifying for the Main Tour.

In the 2010/11 season , the number of tournaments increased enormously, particularly due to the newly introduced Players Tour Championship . Especially in these small tournaments Liu had some success. He reached round 3 5 times and at the fourth tournament in Sheffield he reached the quarter-finals of a professional tournament for the first time. After that he also succeeded in a full ranking tournament: At the UK Championship he defeated Alan McManus and made it into the 4th round again. In addition to other smaller successes, he was then at the end of the season at the World Cup again before moving into the main tournament. This time Ryan Day got the upper hand with 10: 7. This time, however, he advanced to 60th place in the world rankings and stayed on the tour. After a hesitant start to the next season, he again had his first major success at a PTC tournament. At the 2011 Kay Suzanne Memorial Trophy he made it back to the quarterfinals. This was followed by a number of match wins in ranked tournaments, but it wasn't until the 2012 World Snooker Championship that another highlight came. With victories over Rod Lawler , Jimmy White and Jamie Cope , he made it into the finals at the Crucible for the second time in his career. There, however, was again the last stop against Mark Williams . This enabled him to keep his tour position.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Profile of Lyu Chuang on CueTracker (as of September 28, 2017)
2. ↑ Issued after the Shanghai Masters 2012 (PDF; 114 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . September 24, 2012. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
3. ↑ Issued after the APTC2 2012 (PDF; 111 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . September 27, 2012. Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved on September 27, 2012.
4. ↑ Issued after the Gdynia Open 2012 (ET2) (PDF; 113 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . October 8, 2012. Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
5. ↑ Issued after the International Championship 2012 (PDF; 115 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . November 5, 2012. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
6. ↑ Issued after the APTC3 2012 (PDF; 113 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . November 12, 2012. Archived from the original on November 19, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
7. ↑ Issued after the UK PTC4 2012 (PDF; 111 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . November 15, 2012. Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved on November 15, 2012.
8. ↑ Issued after the Bulgarian Open (ET4) 2012 (PDF; 112 kB) In: worldsnooker.com . World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . November 19, 2012. Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved on November 20, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Liu Chuang  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Biography at World Snooker ( Memento from June 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
• Results at Snooker.org
• Liu Chuang in the snooker Database (English)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Liu is the family name here, Chuang is the first name.