Wu Yize
Wu Yize, born on 14 October 2023, is from Lanzhou, the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China.
As a young boy, he studied snooker with coach Roger Leighton. His talent was evident from a very young age. He won the IBSF U-21 World Championship in 2018 when he was just fourteen years old, defeating Pongsakorn Chongjairak from Thailand 6–4 in the final. As a result, he was invited to several professional events the next season.
He was given a wildcard entry to the 2019 International Championship in Daqing, where he pushed John Higgins very hard: he lost 5–6. At the 2019 Six-red World Championship in Bangkok, he progressed through the group stage. In the last 32 round he faced Higgins again, this time losing 4–6. Wu also played in the 2019 World Open in Yushan where he lost to Luca Brecel by 2–5 but made breaks of 85 and 130 in the two frames he won.Here is he knocking in a 147 in the club in Lanzhou.
Wu was awarded a professional tour card for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 snooker seasons; he was nominated by CBSA based on his performances on the CBSA tour. At the end of his debut season, he was awarded the “World Snooker Tour’s Rookie of that Year” recognition following three last 32 ranking event appearances (2021 UK Championship, 2022 European Masters, 2022 Turkish Masters). Wu had played 21 matches that season, winning 11 of them.
In the next season, 2022/23, Wu reached his first quarter-final – at the 2022 European Masters – and, very importantly managed to qualify for the Crucible, having beaten Alan Taylor (10-7), Tian Pengfei (10-2) and Chris Wakelin (10-8) en route. He lost to Neil Robertson in the last 32 at the main venue (10-3).
2023/24 was a lesser season for Wu with one notable exception: in the 2023 Wuhan Open, he reached his first semi-final: he beat Marco Fu (5-3), Ryan Day (5-2), Stephen Maguire (5-4) and Aaron Hill (5-4) before going out to Judd Trump (6-1) in the SF. Wu finished the season ranked 42nd.
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