Made in Sheffield: Why Wu Yize has now set the benchmark after World Championship triumph
Wu Yize may train just a stone’s throw from the Crucible theatre but his road to being crowned world champion has not been paved with gold.
On Monday night, the 22-year-old became the second youngest player to win the World Championship – Stephen Hendry was 21 when he won at the Crucible in 1990 – after beating Shaun Murphy 18-17 in a gripping finale.
It was the culmination of years of hard graft, financial struggles and reward for dropping out of school and moving to Sheffield when he was just 16.
He initially lived in a windowless apartment with his father Wu Jiepin, where they were forced to share a bed.
Over the next six years, Wu – tagged for the top after winning the World Under-21 Championship when he was just 14 – has honed his craft, climbing snooker’s ladder as a professional.
Monday’s winners cheque of £500,000 seemed just a distant dream for a 16-year-old Wu, who adopted Sheffield as his second home, where he trains at the Ding Junhui Academy.
"I am so happy I could play like that today," said Wu. "I played for my family, for myself and for China. My parents are the true champions.
“Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum has also been through so much over the years. They are the source of my strength and I love them so much.”
Wu arrived at the Crucible having never won a match there, losing in the first round on his two previous visits in 2023 and 2025. He knocked out Lei Peifan 10-2, Mark Selby 13-11, Hossein Vafaei 13-8 and Mark Allen 17-16 en route to the final. Wu wouldn’t even have been in the final if Allen had not missed a match-ball black, off its spot, in the semi-finals.
Along the way, his attacking style of play – unorthodox but flamboyant – has earned him a legion of new fans.
The cheers of ‘Wu’, which the Chinese cueman – who speaks through a translator in interviews – initially mistook for boos, have only grown louder over the course of these 17 days.
“At the beginning I had a misunderstanding, I thought people were booing me,” he revealed. “But then the staff told me they were cheering me on. I can't thank the fans enough, no matter who you support, the love for snooker is mutual.
“I just want to have a good sleep! Since the second session of the match I have been feeling nerves so right now I want to go to bed!”
Wu’s success comes just 12 months after Sheffield-based Zhao Xintong became the first player from China to win the world title.
Zhao trains at neighbouring rival academy Victoria’s.
Such has been the success of the two city academies, 11 Chinese players – a record number – were in action at the Crucible this year.
Murphy has warned his nation’s rising snooker stars need to step up the hard graft or risk being overwhelmed by a tidal wave of Chinese talent. Murphy said: “You hear the stories about Wu Yize coming over here with his family, living in a room without any windows, and I think some British players could take a leaf out of their book and thinking, that if they think they’re working hard, they’re probably not.
“But talent does nothing without hard work and you must give all the players from China absolute credit for the amount of graft and hard work they put in.”
Wu rocketed up to fourth in the end-of-season rankings – one place behind Xintong – and they are two of a total of 23 Chinese players who finished the campaign in world’s top 100, 19 of whom are under the age of 30. Chinese players won seven of this year’s 18 ranking tournaments and the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong in February represented the first time in which all four semi-finalists in the same ranking tournament were from China.
In contrast, 35th-ranked Jackson Page is highest of only nine British players in the top 100 who are under the age of 30.
Nevertheless, the emergence of the likes of Yorkshire duo Stan Moody and Liam Pullen, both of whom qualified for the Crucible for the first time, provides some cause for optimism.
“It’s been a wonderful tournament for newcomers,” added Murphy, who was 22 when he won the title in 2005. “The two Yorkshire lads 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, 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.
“It’s about your time and Wu Yize’s time was this week.
“I have nothing but admiration for him and his style of play and the way he goes about it.
“He is an inspiration for absolutely everyone who wants to be a snooker player.”