The 2024 Snooker World Open came to an end. Trump defeated Ding Junhui to successfully defend his title

China Daily, March 24: On the evening of March 24, the China·Jiangxi·Shangrao·Yushan 2024 "Huading Nylon" Snooker World Open was successfully concluded at Yushan Sports Center. England's Judd Trump defeated the 2017 champion and "China's No. 1" Ding Junhui 10-4, successfully defending his title in Yushan and winning his fifth ranking championship of the season.

The World Open is the world's oldest professional snooker ranking event besides the World Championships. As the penultimate ranking tournament before the World Championships in April, this year's tournament has attracted seven-time world champion and current world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan, 2019 World Championship champion and defending champion Trump, 2023 World Championship champion Luca Brecel, four-time world champion Mark Selby and other star players. 19 Chinese players including Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda are playing at home.

During the seven-day snooker feast, all the players went all out to present the audience with a series of wonderful duels, creating many tournament records. On the first day of the tournament, English player Zach Schulti scored the first shot at Yushan Sports Center and his first shot of 147, rewriting the history of this tournament without a perfect score of 147 in 12 years. Welsh rising star Jackson Page defeated the world champion and entered the semi-finals, achieving the biggest breakthrough in his career.

The number of spectators and communication influence of the World Open far exceeded that of previous years. According to incomplete statistics, the number of spectators on site and the highest number of spectators in a single game of this tournament both broke the highest record of the world snooker professional tournament this season. The tickets for the semi-finals and finals were sold out early, and the total box office far exceeded that of 2019. In addition to local fans in Yushan, a large number of fans came to the stadium from afar. At the same time, CCTV, Migu, Huya and Eurosport broadcast the entire event live, and more than 100 media including People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, Guangming Daily, Sina and many self-media reported on it. Content related to the event was ranked first on the Douyin hot list and hot searches on Baidu and Sina Weibo many times, setting off a new Persian Nook craze.
Simon Brownell, CEO of World Snooker Ltd., said: "The World Open has taken snooker to a whole new level." Trump said: "I am particularly happy to win the Chinese championship. There are many young fans here. It is great to play in front of a group of people who love snooker." Ding Junhui shared a photo of people watching the event on a big screen on the streets of Yushan on Weibo: "The billiards atmosphere in Yushan is very good."

The successful hosting of this World Open is inseparable from the investment of the Chinese Billiards Association, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the Shangrao Municipal Government, the Yushan County Government, the world-famous billiards company Xingpai, and the exclusive title sponsor of the event, Yiwu Huading Nylon Co., Ltd. Brownell said: "The Chinese Billiards Association has cooperated with us sincerely and has helped the development of snooker for many years. We have benefited a lot from the full support of the Shangrao Municipal Government and the Yushan County Government. And our outstanding partner Xingpai has done a good job and presented such an incredible atmosphere."

Today, Yushan has become a veritable "China Billiards Capital and World Billiards City". Before the World Open, the World Billiards Museum and World Billiards Hall of Fame, which took ten years to build, were officially unveiled. Ding Junhui, O'Sullivan and other seven outstanding figures became the first celebrities to be selected. The rooting of billiards in Yushan has profoundly changed Chinese and world billiards, greatly promoted the comprehensive development of Yushan's tourism, catering, service and other industries, and made Yushan look brand new.

O'Sullivan tasted Yushan cuisine after the game, and visited the World Billiards Museum with Robertson and Barry Hawkins. He said: "I haven't been to Yushan for five years. I almost don't recognize it here. It has changed a lot. I am very happy to learn the history of billiards in the World Billiards Museum. I am very grateful to Yushan and Xingpai for bringing such amazing facilities. All snooker fans around the world should come and see it."