Mr Ronnie Walker, President of the World Snooker Organization, said: "The World Snooker Academy is a great progress and an indispensable part of our sports development. It provides a high-quality environment for the development of snooker, and promotes the development of this sport at the grassroots level through a series of community and educational measures. We are glad that Sheffield has consolidated its position as the hometown of snooker by hosting the World Championships and establishing a college.
Steve Bourelly, CEO of Sheffield International Stadium, said: "The Academy is another supplement to our sports facilities in Sheffield. This is a very exciting moment. For the sake of sports and our city, we hope to train a new generation of stars in Sheffield Institute of Physical Education in England.
What really lets the world know about Sheffield is not football, but snooker. Jackie Drayton, Mayor of Sheffield, specifically mentioned Sheffield billiards at the reception of Chengdu Sheffield United. Journalists often see young men and women playing billiards in bars. Ding Junhui, a billiards prodigy from China, first trained here.
The staff of Sheffield United Club introduced the billiards of Sheffield to the reporter.
Sheffield is the hometown of snooker.
In Britain, snooker is the third largest sport after football and cricket, with strong mass base and high competitive level. The World Championships, the British Championship and the Masters are the top events of snooker, and the Sheffield Crucible Grand Theatre, where the World Championships are held, is considered as the spiritual home of snooker. Sheffield has a famous snooker college and reached an agreement with the World Taiwan Federation. They not only left the World Championships in Crucible, but also made Sheffield the home of snooker. There is no doubt that it is a "billiards holy city". In the streets of Sheffield, where there is a bar, there must be a billiard table. If you want to play a game, you have to wait in line first, because there are too many people who want to play. "In Sheffield, there are no fewer people who like billiards than those who like football. There are various billiards competitions here every year. " The staff of Sheffield United Club said.
Ding Junhui is now attending the 2006 National Professional Snooker Championship in his hometown of Yixing, Jiangsu, but the reporter came to the place where he grew up. Ding Junhui's name is a household name in China. Although people in Sheffield also know Ding Junhui, Xiaoding's fame here is far from being heard of in China. "Because Ding Junhui only started to make achievements in the last year or two, people here don't know him very well."
"Oriental Star" settled in Sheffield
June 5438+February 2005, Ding Junhui defeated veteran Davis and won the British snooker championship. After the game, he was called "Star of the East" by the British media. It was that champion that made Ding Junhui a household name in China. After all, this is the successful footprint left by China people in another unfamiliar sports field after Liu Xiang, the champion of Athens Olympic Games. In September 2004, Ding Junhui moved from Northampton to Sheffield with Snooker College, which was his first cross-city move since he came to England in 2003. Ding Junhui has bought a house in Sheffield worth175,000. Xiaoding's home is located on a hillside, near the world-famous University of Sheffield. Ding Junhui's Billiards College is located on the second floor of Sheffield University Gymnasium. The staff of the club told the reporter, "The last time I saw Ding Junhui in York, I felt that others were more introverted and didn't like to talk much. In fact, China people here often get together, but I haven't seen Ding Junhui come. Maybe he is too busy playing games. "
China players who trained with Ding Junhui in Sheffield include Liang and Tian Pengfei. It has been two years since Liang Hetian came to England, and he is regarded as another new star in China billiards. To the reporter's surprise, many people here know about the "Zhou Mengmeng was beaten" in the Asian Games. They think it is totally hype, because billiards is a gentleman's sport.