Wu Yize became the second Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship following Zhao Xintong’s triumph last year, defeating England’s Shaun Murphy 18-17 at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on May 4.
At 22 years of age, Wu also became the second-youngest Crucible winner after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won the title in 1990.
Murphy and Wu embraced each other at the end of the hard-fought match and Murphy said:
“I’d like to be the first to congratulate Wu Yize and his family, and everyone around him for being a wonderful world champion. I hate being right – I said sometime earlier in the season when we had a great game out in China somewhere, I won that one, but I came out afterwards and said that he would be world champion one day. It’s just a real shame that it was today, but I couldn’t have given it anymore, I couldn’t have tried harder.”
With his parents by his side, Wu said: “My parents are the true champion. Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum has also been going through a lot over the years. They are the source of my strength. I love them so much. I am so happy. I played for myself, my family, and China. I think other Chinese players can win this championship – the best is yet to come.”
The Telegraph appeared to forget its normal anti-China venom and general contempt for working class people and enthused:
“Wu is a prodigious talent who took the Crucible by storm, sealing the championship with the coolest of left-handed pots.
“Lanzhou-born Wu moved to Sheffield with his father when he was 16 to pursue his snooker dream in what must surely rank as one of the game’s most remarkable rags-to-riches tales. The duo shared a window-less flat and even a bed in Sheffield but, as Wu pumped his fist after conquering 43-year-old Murphy in this epic, all of that hardship was worth it.
“In the Steel City [as Sheffield is still known having been historically a centre of the industry], Wu’s nerves matched. He has developed into a cult figure with the Crucible faithful and his Wu Fan Clan were there until the very end, chanting his surname in the same vein as fans of Joe Root or Bruce Springsteen after a final for the ages.”
Asked about those popular “Wu” chants, the newly minted champion added: “At the beginning I had a misunderstanding. I thought people were booing me. Then the staff told me they were cheering me on, so I can’t thank you all enough.”
The Metro reported that Wu had earlier expressed his thanks to Ronnie O’Sullivan:
“‘We met a few times during the practice,’ Wu said of O’Sullivan. ‘We messaged each other occasionally to talk about matches. I really appreciate his support.’
Speaking in November, O’Sullivan said: ‘I was practicing quite a bit with Wu Yize in Hong Kong before the tournament [in Nanjing, China] that he won. I was just telling him certain areas of his game that I think he needs to improve on if he wants to be a winner.”
The seven-times world champion winner is a great friend of China.
The left-wing website Canary acclaimed Wu’s victory, writing:
“Wu Yize did not just win a world title; he arrived as a force the sport will have to reckon with for the next decade…
“Yize’s victory will resonate far beyond Sheffield. It will accelerate investment, inspire juniors, and reshape the competitive landscape. Crucially, he does not look like a one‑off. His temperament, scoring power and ability to absorb pressure are traits that translate to long‑term success…
“Wu Yize did not sneak through the back door, he walked through the front, past a former world champion who refused to go away and closed the match with the best break of his life. A new name is on the trophy, and my guess is it will not be the last time you see it there.”
According to the Guardian, Shaun Murphy drew attention to the greater levels of investment available to develop the sport in China:
“The two Yorkshire lads [Stan Moody and Liam Pullen] conducted themselves really well and have great futures ahead of them. But you can see with the investment that the Chinese government have made into snooker in the last 10 or 15 years the fruits of it now; Xintong last year, Wu this year – it’s great for snooker out in China and it would be great to see that kind of investment here.”
He was echoed by Jason Ferguson, chair of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, who said before the tournament. “The biggest risk to players in England is the loss of facilities.
“The cost of living is high, and clubs are fighting to stay open. We’re seeing how easy it is to close a snooker club down and turn it into a block of flats… We have a national sport of the country in China and we’ve seen who has come out of the national academy: Zhao Xintong [this year’s defending champion and the first Asian title winner]. The system works. But we now need a national academy here in the UK.”
In an interview with China’s CGTN right after he clinched the title, Wu praised his opponent as an excellent player. Clad in China’s five-star red flag draped around his shoulders, he said he just hoped he can stay true to why he started and keep moving forward.
In a separate CGTN interview, Jason Ferguson of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association praised Wu as ‘a lovely young man’ and stressed the importance of the game’s huge popularity in China for its global sustainability.
The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and Canary. We also embed below the two short videos from CGTN quoted above.
China’s Wu Yize wins World Snooker Championship in Crucible thriller
LONDON, May 4 (Xinhua) — Wu Yize became the second Chinese to win World Snooker Championship following Zhao Xintong’s triumph last year, defeating England’s Shaun Murphy 18-17 at the Crucible Theatre here on Monday.
Wu, 22, also became the second-youngest Crucible winner after Stephen Hendry who was 21 in 1990. He lifted the trophy after the final, with his parents standing by his side.
“They are the true champion, since the moment I devoted myself to snooker, my father has always been my company, my mother also went through ups and downs in these years. They are and always will be my motivation,” said Wu, who moved to Sheffield at 16 years old and lived in a tiny room with his father for a long time.
Wu took an early 3-0 lead before Murphy fought back to tie the first session 4-4. Breaks of 103, 89 and 91 helped Wu established a 10-7 lead after session two, before Murphy won five straight frames. Wu then dominated the next three frames to take a slender 13-12 lead into the last session.
Murphy contributed the highest break of the final in the 32nd frame with 131 points to tie 16-16, turning the 35-frame final into a best-of-three match. Each player won one frame, before Wu successfully potted a tricky red in the middle pocket to finish the decider with a winning break of 85.
“I’d like to congratulate Wu Yize. I hate being right – earlier this season I said he would be world champion one day. It’s just a shame it is today!” joked Murphy, who won his solitary title in 2005 before finishing runner-up in his next four final appearances in 2009, 2015, 2021 and today.
Wu was among a record 11 Chinese players at the Crucible this year, including snooker pioneer Ding Junhui, the first Asian finalist in 2016, and defending champion Zhao Xintong, the first Asian title winner.
Wu defeated Lei Peifan, Mark Selby and Hossein Vafaei in the first three rounds, and reached the final in dramatic fashion by edging Mark Allen 17-16 in the semifinal after Allen missed the match-ball black in the 32nd frame.
Wu Yize: The new World Snooker Champion announced with authority, not hype
May 5 (The Canary) –– In the end, it was not the noise, the narrative or the weight of the moment that decided the 2026 World Snooker Championship. It was an 85‑point break from a 22‑year‑old who had never won a match at the Crucible before this year.
Wu Yize did not just win a world title; he arrived as a force the sport will have to reckon with for the next decade.
Yize becomes the second‑youngest world champion in history, behind only Stephen Hendry. He’s also the second successive Chinese winner, following Zhao Xintong’s triumph last year.
This was not a coronation; it was a full-on scrap. A final that went the full 35‑frame distance, only the fourth time that’s ever happened, and the first since 2002.
But it was Shaun Murphy, 21 years removed from his own world title, who kept dragging the contest back to level terms.
Yize v Murphy: A final that never settled
Yize began Monday with a 10-7 lead after controlling the opening two sessions, but the afternoon was a reminder that Crucible finals rarely follow the script. Murphy punished every loose shot, reeling off the first five frames with breaks of 76, 52, 59 and 60 to flip the game on its head at 12-10.
For a player with no previous Crucible pedigree, this was the moment where the pressure could have swallowed him. Instead, Yize steadied himself and produced arguably the most important mini‑session of the entire championship: three frames on the spin, conceding just six points and compiling breaks of 64 and 61. That surge restored his lead at 13-12 heading into the evening.
He stretched it to 14-12, only for Murphy to haul him back again, and again. They were locked at 15-15, 16-16, 17-17, a final that refused to tilt decisively in either direction.
The black that nearly cost him, and the response that won it
The moment that could have haunted Yize came in frame 34, a black off its spot for the title. He missed it, Murphy cleared and the match went to a decider.
Murphy had the first chance in the 35th frame. But when he faltered, Yize produced the kind of break that defines champions: controlled, attacking, unflustered. An 85 that closed the door on a match that had been open for four hours too long.
The Crucible crowd, which Yize admitted he initially misread, thinking the “Wuuuuu” chants were boos, roared him home.
Speaking through a translator, he said:
At the beginning, I had a misunderstanding, but then the staff told me they were cheering me on.
Murphy, to his credit, didn’t hide from the truth of the moment. “I hate being right,” he said, recalling a match earlier in the season where he’d predicted Yize would one day be world champion.
It’s just a real shame it was today. I couldn’t have given it anymore.
A champion built on risk, nerve and timing
What stands out most about Yize’s run is not just the result, it’s the manner of it. His game was built on front‑foot snooker: aggressive shot‑making, fearless long‑potting, and a willingness to seize frames rather than wait for them to come to him. That style can unravel under pressure. Fortunately for him, it did not.
He beat seasoned champions, handled momentum swings, and produced his best snooker when the match demanded it. That’s not youthful fearlessness; that’s competitive maturity.
As always the context matters. Snooker has spent years searching for its next generational star, someone capable of bridging the gap between the fading era of O’Sullivan, Higgins and Williams. Whatever comes next, Yize’s win doesn’t guarantee he’ll be that figure, but it puts him firmly in the conversation.
What does this means for snooker?
A second consecutive Chinese world champion is not a footnote, it is a shift. The sport’s centre of gravity has been tilting east for years, but this is the clearest sign yet that the pipeline is not just producing talent, but producing winners.
Yize’s victory will resonate far beyond Sheffield. It will accelerate investment, inspire juniors, and reshape the competitive landscape. Crucially, he does not look like a one‑off. His temperament, scoring power and ability to absorb pressure are traits that translate to long‑term success.
A world championship final that delivered clarity
No melodrama needed here, or an over‑inflated narrative, there is just a simple truth: the 2026 World Snooker Championship produced a worthy winner.
Wu Yize did not sneak through the back door, he walked through the front, past a former world champion who refused to go away, and closed the match with the best break of his life.
A new name is on the trophy and my guess is it will not be the last time you see it there.
