Liu Chuang
Name | Date of Birth | Country |
---|---|---|
Liu Chuang | 06-06-1990 | China |
Liu Chuang (Chinese: 刘闯, pinyin: Liú Chuǎng, born 6 June 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player.
Liu grew up in Liaoning province in northeast China. Near his parents' house there was a snooker table and when he was 10 he played on it and liked it a lot. His father noticed his potential, and supported him as did the person who owned that table, who became his first coach.
When he was 13, Liu travelled thousands of miles to play in southern China, where there were more professionals. There he improved and began to play competitive matches. In 2007, the chairman of the Asian Snooker Association saw his potential, and he gained a wild card in the China Open.
Liu first came to the attention of the snooker world when he was picked as a wildcard to enter the 2007 China Open.Liu was victorious over Andy Hicks, beating him 5–4. That set up a meeting with Liu's idol] Ronnie O'Sullivan; Liu lost the match 1–5.
He reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 Asian Snooker Championship, where he lost 4–5 to Yasin Merchant.
In the 2008 World Championship he qualified for the main stage, He beat Colin Mitchell 10–0, Lee Walker 10–9 Joe Delaney 10–5, David Gray 10–5, and then Dominic Dale 10–9 to become only the fourth 17-year-old player to qualify for the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump. Liu was drawn to play O'Sullivan in the first round. Despite being 0–3 down, Liu came back in the first session and levelled at 4–4, before O'Sullivan eventually won the game 10–5. Liu was relegated from the Main Tour after the following season.
On 15 April 2010, he won the Asian Under 21 Snooker Championship, after defeating Thanawat Tirapaipongboon 10–5 in the final. With this he qualified for the 2010/2011 professional Main Tour.
From the 2010/11 season, Liu is managed by Grove Leisure along with fellow Chinese players Yu Delu, Liang Wenbo, Chen Zhe, Zhang Anda and Liu Song. He practices at the Grove Academy in Romford, Essex. Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan are also members of the club.