World Snooker Championship returns to Sheffield with concerns about game's future direction

Sixteen years after his compatriot Ding Junhui became the first Chinese player to win the UK Championship, Yan’s success was seen to herald the arrival of an exciting new generation of talent that included another star in the making in the shape of Zhao Xintong.

Eleven months later, Zhao would make good on that promise when he swept to victory in the UK Championship, further enhancing the possibilities for snooker to plunder the riches of the east as it gradually emerged into a bright and hopeful post-Covid climate.