Data Map: China Shijiazhuang 2018 Chinese Eight-Ball International Open kicked off. Haendly, known as the "Billiards Emperor", appeared in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, and exchanged ideas with Wang, the champion of the women’s group billiards competition in the 15th Games of Hebei Province. The picture shows two people "competing" in the same field. China News Service reporter Yujia Zhai photo
BEIJING, Aug. 30 (PG One) If you talk about the recent billiards game, many people may immediately think of the just-concluded British Snooker World Championships. Although China players missed the quarter-finals, names familiar to domestic audiences such as O ‘Sullivan remained active in the media until after the competition.
In comparison, the Chinese billiards events held recently seem to be "low-key". Chinese billiards, although it has a strong mass base that many people can’t imagine, has always been less concerned than snooker events, and the reasons are intriguing.
A large population of Chinese billiards
In the 1980s, Chinese billiards became popular among the people. However, at that time, the name and rules of the sport were very vague, and the names of black eight, sixteen colors, American bag falling and Chinese eight balls made the layman confused.
Data map: Players are in the Chinese eight-ball competition. Photo by Damon
In fact, in the world, billiards can be generally divided into snooker, Kailun and Poole. Among them, Poole billiards has many branches all over the world, such as American billiards, which are divided into eight balls, nine balls and ten balls. English billiards are similar to American billiards.
Chinese billiards generally refers to a table between snooker and American style, and uses American rules and play methods at the same time. At present, the mainstream of Chinese billiards is eight balls.
Earlier, Wang Tao, secretary general of China Billiards Association, said in an interview that the billiards population in China is conservatively estimated to be 60 million, and 40 million people are playing Chinese billiards. What is the concept of such a scale?
In 2017, Liu Guoliang introduced in Weibo that there were 83 million people in China who participated in table tennis more than twice a week and more than one hour at a time. Although the population size of Chinese billiards is not as large as that of table tennis, which is called "national ball", the mass base can also be described as "abundant" on the whole.
Weibo screenshot.
Qiao Bing, as the president of Qiao’s billiards, has devoted himself to the holding and promotion of Chinese billiards events for many years, which is deeply touched.
He introduced that at present, professional billiards players in China have also reached a certain scale: "It is conservatively estimated that there are more than 2,000 professional players who can make a living from Chinese billiards. There are hundreds of people who are active in the Masters all the year round, and some are active all the year round at the local level. It is estimated that there will be more people playing. "
“It’s hot and cold"Chinese billiards match
Qiao Bing used the word "in full swing" to describe the current Chinese billiards events. He introduced that ten years ago, the biggest billiards events in China were American Jiuqiu and Snooker, but now more than 90% of the events are Chinese. "Most of the players who play well in China are playing Chinese billiards, and some other players are also switching to Chinese billiards."
In terms of competition bonuses, some high-end competitions of Chinese billiards are also very rich. For example, in the Chinese Eight-Ball Masters, the total prize money in the season can reach 20 million RMB.
Wang Zhongyao was the referee in the competition. Screenshot of video data.
Wang Zhongyao is an international gold medal referee of ICEA Chinese billiards and is very famous in the industry. On the vibrato platform, she has more than 6 million fans. During her nine-year refereeing career, she personally felt the development of Chinese billiards. "It’s more like a sports event than a folk game," she added. "In a sense, the development and popularity have surpassed the American nine-ball."
When Wang Zhongyao first started as a referee, there were not so many live webcasts in the game, and the players didn’t pay so much attention to it. Now the contestants have more recognition of their identity as athletes, and no longer regard the competition as a folk event to "win some money".
However, there is no star player like Ding Junhui in snooker in the rapid development of Chinese billiards. This is related to the fact that Chinese billiards rarely get on the national TV broadcast platform.
Qiao Bing believes that the strong financial resources, influence and influential communication platform behind the World Snooker Association are the reasons why Ding Junhui can appear.
Data Map: In 2016, the 2nd Chinese Billiards World Championship officially started in Yushan County, Jiangxi Province. Ding Junhui, the leader of China billiards who participated in the Chinese Billiards Competition for the first time, lost his debut to Michael Hill of Britain with a score of 3-9. Jiang Tao photo
This actually explains to some extent that the mass base of Chinese billiards is better than that of snooker, but the attention of events is not as good as that of snooker. At present, Chinese billiards has not fully met the conditions for the emergence of a "Ding Junhui".
Overseas influence of Chinese billiards
Another reason why Chinese billiards events are not paid enough attention to compared with snooker may be that this sport originated in China, and its influence in the world at present cannot be compared with snooker.
However, as Chinese billiards events are held in more and more countries and regions, its overseas influence is gradually increasing. "Our movement has spread to more than 50 countries and regions around the world. Many billiards media in the world have a bonus list every year. As long as the player who wins our Masters championship can be at the forefront of the list for at least half a year, because our game is the biggest in the first half of the year. " Qiao Bing introduced.
For example, in the race in South Africa, "we sponsor them a car every month and play the car league, and the enthusiasm of South African locals to participate is very high."
Data Map: In 2016, the second Chinese Billiards World Championship was officially launched in Yushan County, Jiangxi Province, and the famous Robertson was in the competition. Jiang Tao photo
In the process of the global promotion of Chinese billiards, a name that fans are familiar with has to be mentioned, that is, the "billiards emperor" Hendry, who is one of the greatest athletes in the history of snooker and has won the world championship of snooker for seven times. After he announced his retirement in 2012, Hendry became the honorary chairman of the Chinese Eight-Ball International Federation in the same year.
Hendry once said in an interview: "This original billiards game in China will carry the China culture to take root all over the world, and Chinese billiards will become an important opportunity for the new upgrade of the world billiards industry."
Chinese billiards go to the world, besides the development of competition events, there is also the output of billiards culture behind it, and the expansion of overseas competitions can often lead to the expansion of overseas markets, and billiards-related industries can also sniff out a line of business opportunities.
There is still room for improvement in career development.
Zhang Jianpeng is a player of "Qiao’s Billiards Dream Team", and has previously won the runner-up in the global finals of the Chinese Billiards International Masters. In order to play billiards, he gave up his studies and is now a professional billiards player.
Data Map: In the final of the 2017 Chinese Eight-Ball International Masters in Xining, Zhang Xiaopeng finally stood out among 247 players and won the championship. Photo courtesy of the organizing Committee.
In the field of Chinese billiards, Zhang Jianpeng has been regarded as a very high-level player, and people have given him the nickname "100 steps to wear Yang". However, there is still a certain distance from the popularity of those star players. He said that sometimes when he carries the equipment for playing ball, he will be thought to be holding musical instruments, violins and the like.
Zhang Jianpeng said that he hopes that Chinese billiards will have high-level competitions and bonuses in the future. "In this case, there will be more professionalism, and billiards can officially become a gentleman’s sport in people’s hearts."
The referee is also an indispensable force for the development of the industry, but at present, the income of billiards referees is not high. Wang Zhongyao introduced that few people take billiards referee as their profession.
She said that usually, no matter how many matches there are in a day, the referee earns 300 yuan a day to 500 yuan. The calculation of the referee’s annual income cannot be simply multiplied by 365, because there are not competitions every day. In addition, novice referees earn less, "maybe one or two hundred and one days."
Those who are interested in becoming billiards referees, "only a few people stay, most of them have changed careers, and they still have to support their families." Wang Zhongyao introduced.
Wang Xiaoli plays billiards. Screenshot of video data.
On August 20th, Zhang Jianpeng won the championship with a 90:83 victory over Zhao Ruliang in the Chinese Nine-Ball Championship, winning a prize of 500,000 yuan.
Wang Xiaoli, a famous actor who plays Liu Neng in the series of "Country Love Stories", also came to the competition site, and explained the gold medal contest all the time. For Zhang Jianpeng’s championship, as a billiards enthusiast, he said: Yes!
I hope that the future of Chinese billiards can be the same. No matter players or competitions, people can understand, love and sincerely praise: Yes! (End)
