Yan Bingtao
Yan at the 2022 European Masters
Born (2000-02-16) 16 February 2000
Zibo, Shandong, China
Sport country China
NicknameThe Tiger[1]
Professional2016–2023
Highest ranking10 (March 2021)
Century breaks153
Tournament wins
Ranking1
Medal record
Representing  China
Men's Snooker
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
Gold medal – first place 2017 Ashgabat Six-red singles
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Ashgabat Team
Yan Bingtao
Traditional Chinese顏丙濤
Simplified Chinese颜丙涛

Yan Bingtao (Chinese: 颜丙涛; born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese former professional snooker player who is currently serving a five-year ban from professional competition after committing a range of match-fixing offences. He rose to prominence by winning the ISBF World Snooker Championship, the sport's world amateur title, in 2014 at age 14, which made him the tournament's youngest ever winner.[2] He turned professional in 2016.[3]

Aged 17 years and 284 days, Yan became the youngest player ever to contest a ranking final when he faced Mark Williams at the 2017 Northern Ireland Open, but lost in a deciding frame.[4] Yan claimed his first ranking title at the 2019 Riga Masters, becoming the third Chinese player, after Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo, to win a ranking event.[5] He made his Masters debut at the 2021 event, where he defeated John Higgins 10–8 in the final to win his first Triple Crown title. Aged 20, Yan became the youngest Masters winner since then-19-year-old Ronnie O'Sullivan won it in 1995.[6]

In December 2022, the WPBSA suspended Yan from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation.[7] Following an independent disciplinary tribunal, he was banned from competing professionally until 11 December 2027.[8]

Career

Early years

Yan Bingtao was born on 16 February 2000[9] in the city of Zibo, in Shandong province, China.[10] In December 2011, aged only 11, Yan reached the final of the Zibo City championship. The following year, he became Shandong Provincial champion, in Qingdao.

Amateur

Yan began to feature in professional competitions at the start of the 2013–14 season, aged 13,[11] in Asian Players Tour Championship events,[11] and as a wildcard player in Chinese ranking tournaments.[11] His first win against a professional came in his first match, against Vinnie Calabrese in the 2013 Yixing Open.[11] He also secured wins over Stuart Bingham, Yu Delu, Barry Pinches and Liang Wenbo during the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.[11] He reached the last 32 of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and 2014 Shanghai Masters.

Qualification for professional status

In November 2014, Yan won the Amateur World Snooker Championship, beating Muhammad Sajjad of Pakistan 8–7 in the final.[12][11] Aged 14, Yan also became the youngest winner of the event beating Zhou Yuelong, who won it aged 15 in 2013.[12] This win earned him a two-year professional card for the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons.[12][11]

Yan was unable to take up his entry in the first ranking tournament of the 2015–16 season, the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open, after failing to obtain a UK Visa.[13] He was selected for the Chinese B team in the 2015 Snooker World Cup, with Zhou Yuelong as his teammate.[14] China B started as 50/1 outsiders but they topped their group, knocking out England in the process, before beating Australia and Wales in the knock-out stages, and Scotland in the final. Between them they pocketed a cheque for US$200,000.[15] Defeated finalist Stephen Maguire stated that he believed he had watched two future world champions.[16] Shortly afterwards it was announced that Yan's tour card would be deferred until the 2016–17 season in order for him to complete his education in China and become eligible for a working visa.[17] He did though play in the Champion of Champions for which he gained entry through his World Cup win and, on his debut in the UK, he beat Shaun Murphy 4–2, before losing 3–6 to Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals.[18]

Yan finished the year by winning the San Yuan Cup, an amateur Chinese competition, in Chengdu, beating Jin Long 5–4 in the final.[19]

2016–17 season

A trio of deciding frame wins saw Yan reach the fourth round of the Paul Hunter Classic, where he lost 1–4 to Dominic Dale. He also got to the same stage of the English Open with a 4–3 victory over Mark Allen, but again was beaten 4–1 this time by Ricky Walden. His third last 16 exit of the season came at the Northern Ireland Open as he was edged out 4–3 by Anthony Hamilton. After knocking out Liang Wenbo 6–4 in the second round of the UK Championship, Yan met World Cup partner Zhou and was defeated 5–6.[20] Yan qualified for the German Masters by overcoming Sam Baird 5–1 and Shaun Murphy 5–4 and at the venue beat Dale 5–2 and Michael Holt 5–1 to reach the first ranking event quarter-final of his career, which he lost 2–5 to Stuart Bingham.[21] Yan defeated world number one Mark Selby 4–1 in the third round of the Welsh Open, before being knocked out by a reversal of this scoreline to Kurt Maflin.[22] Yan became the second youngest player to compete at the World Championship which he qualified for by beating Sam Craigie 10–8, Mark Davis 10–7 and Alexander Ursenbacher 10–4.[23] He won his first frame at the Crucible with a century break, but was 3–6 down to Shaun Murphy after the opening session. Yan was also 5–9 behind, but won three frames in a row without Murphy potting a ball. He had a good advantage in the 18th frame, but Murphy fluked a red and then cleared the table to eliminate Yan 10–8.[24] At the end of his debut campaign as a professional he was 56th in the world rankings, the second highest of all the players that started the year with no ranking points.[25]

2017–18 season

Following his debut, Yan had another successful campaign in the 2017–18 season. His wins over Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ricky Walden, Jack Lisowski, and John Higgins, saw him make his first career semi final, where he lost 2–9 to Mark Allen. He then reached his first career final in the Northern Ireland Open later that month, beating the likes of Robbie Williams, Jamie Barrett, Mark King, Ryan Day, Robert Milkins, and Lyu Haotian along the way, before losing 8–9 to Mark Williams.[26] His world ranking rose rapidly again, standing at 23rd by the end of the season.

2018–19 season

Yan's performance in the 2018–19 season perhaps was not as strong as the previous season, but his consistency helped his world ranking to climb to 21st.

2019–20 season – First ranking title

This season was Yan's best career season yet. He reached one quarter final, four semi finals, and one final. In addition, Yan defeated Mark Joyce 5–2 in the Riga Masters final to claim his maiden ranking title, becoming the youngest title winner since Ding Junhui won the 2006 Northern Ireland Open.[27] Later in the season, Yan reached the final stage of the World Snooker Championship again, but lost to Judd Trump in the second round.

2020–21 season – Masters champion

Yan secured his first triple crown event title at the Masters after beating Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire, Stuart Bingham, and John Higgins. He became the first debutant to win the tournament since Mark Selby in 2008, and the second Chinese winner of the event after Ding Junhui lifted the title in 2011.[6][28] He also became the youngest player (20 years old) to win the tournament since Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1995.[10]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21		 2021/
22		 2022/
23
Ranking[29][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 56 23 21 15 10 15
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR 2R WD
European Masters Not Held 1R 1R 1R WD QF 3R 3R
British Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R
Northern Ireland Open Not Held 4R F 1R 4R QF SF 2R
UK Championship A A A 3R 3R 3R SF 2R 2R 1R
Scottish Open Not Held 1R 3R 3R 2R 2R 1R 2R
English Open Not Held 4R 4R 2R 1R 2R QF WD
World Grand Prix NH NR DNQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R QF DNQ
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event 1R 1R 1R SF WD 1R A
German Masters A A A QF LQ 2R LQ LQ F WD
Welsh Open A A A 4R QF 1R SF 4R 2R A
Players Championship[nb 4] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 1R DNQ F DNQ QF DNQ
WST Classic Tournament Not Held A
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ QF DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A A 1R LQ LQ 2R 2R QF A
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions A A QF A A A 1R A SF A
Masters A A A A A A A W 1R WD
Championship League A A A A A A A RR SF A
Six-red World Championship A A 3R A A WD 2R Not Held A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic A 2R Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A 1R A LQ 1R Non-Ranking Not Held
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking 4R A A NR Not Held
Indian Open A A NH LQ WD 2R Tournament Not Held
China Open WR WR A LQ 2R 1R Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 5] NH MR 3R LQ WD W Not Held
International Championship A WR A 2R SF 3R 2R Not Held
China Championship Not Held NR 2R 3R 2R Not Held
World Open A Not Held LQ A 2R 1R Not Held
Turkish Masters Tournament Not Held 3R NH
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR 2R WD 4R 1R 1R A NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters Ranking Event 1R 1R Not Held
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. 1 2 3 He was an amateur
  3. ↑ New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking
  4. ↑ The event was called the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014−2015/2016)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

Ranking finals: 4 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2017 Northern Ireland Open Wales Mark Williams 8–9
Winner 1. 2019 Riga Masters England Mark Joyce 5–2
Runner-up 2. 2020 Players Championship England Judd Trump 4–10
Runner-up 3. 2022 German Masters China Zhao Xintong 0–9

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title)

Legend
The Masters (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2021 The Masters Scotland John Higgins 10–8

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (6-red) Iran Soheil Vahedi 5–1
Runner-up 1. 2018 Zibo International Open China Zhou Yuelong 2–5 [30]

Team finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Team Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2015 World Cup  China B  Scotland 4–1
Runner-up 1. 2017 CVB Snooker Challenge  China  Great Britain 9–26

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2014 IBSF World Snooker Championship Pakistan Muhammad Sajjad 8–7
Runner-up 1. 2015 IBSF World 6-Reds Snooker Championship India Pankaj Advani 2–6

References

  1. ↑ "Yan Bingtao". wst.tv. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  2. ↑ admin (14 July 2022). "Yan Bingtao - Player Profile, Career Summary, Stats". SnookerHQ. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Yan Bingtao Is Snooker's Bright Young Hope Making Ronnie O'Sullivan Eat His Words". The Sportsman. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "Can Yan Bingtao Create Snooker History At The Northern Ireland Open?". The Sportsman. 25 November 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  5. ↑ Ting Yuan (29 July 2019). "颜丙涛打破尘封13年纪录 20岁前丁俊晖三夺排名赛" [Yan Bingtao broke the dusty 13-year record before the age of 20, Ding Junhui won three rankings]. Sina Sports. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  6. 1 2 Hafez, Shamoon (18 January 2021). "Yan Bingtao beats John Higgins to win Masters title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "Yan suspended from tour amid match-fixing probe Yan will now be banned for the next 5 years". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  8. ↑ Huart, Matt (18 January 2023). "WPBSA Statement | 18 January 2023". WPBSA. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  9. ↑ "Yan Bingtao WPBSA profile". wpbsa.com. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  10. 1 2 Nunns, Hector (18 January 2021). "Yan Bingtao: I was lost and confused when I came to UK – now I want to be world champion". The Times. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Yan Bingtao". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 Pathak, Vivek (29 November 2014). "Yan Bingtao becomes youngest ever World Champion". IBSF. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  13. ↑ "Australian Goldfields Open Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  14. ↑ "SNOOKER WORLD CUP LINE-UP ANNOUNCED". World Snooker. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  15. ↑ "Chinese teens beat Scots in final". BBC Sport. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  16. ↑ "China Win Snooker's World Cup". World Snooker. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Yan Bingtao Tour Card Deferred". World Snooker. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "Shaun Murphy beaten by 15-year-old Yan Bingtao". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  19. ↑ ""圣沅杯"斯诺克落幕 "00后"第一人逆转夺冠" ["Sanyuan Cup" snooker ended, first "post-00" person to reverse and win]. sports.163.com. 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  20. ↑ "Yan Bingtao 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  21. ↑ "Martin still going for Gould at German Master". RTÉ. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "Welsh Open 2017: World number one Mark Selby beaten by 17-year-old Yan Bingtao". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  23. ↑ "Yan Secures Crucible Debut". World Snooker. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  24. ↑ "Shaun Murphy sets up second round clash with Ronnie O'Sullivan at World Championships". Nottingham Post. 17 April 2017. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  25. ↑ "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  26. ↑ "Williams edges Yan to win NI Open". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  27. ↑ "Yan, 19, wins first ranking title in Riga". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  28. ↑ Media, P. A. (18 January 2021). "Yan Bingtao wins Masters snooker title on debut as comeback stuns Higgins". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  29. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  30. ↑ "Zibo Joy for Zhou". World Snooker. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
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