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Liang Wenbo

During the 2008/09 season, Liang provided more evidence to suggest that he is capable of following in Ding Junhui’s footsteps and making a real impact at the top end of snooker.
His results were certainly consistent as he won his opening match in seven of the eight ranking events. Liang’s best run came in the Northern Ireland Trophy as he beat David Roe in the final qualifying round then saw off Steve Davis 5-3 at the Belfast Waterfront before thumping Peter Ebdon 5-0 to reach the last 16 before his run was ended with a 5-1 reverse against John Higgins. Three-times World Champion Higgins was impressed by the Chinese cueman’s ability but suggested he may need to tighten up his game in order to continue his surge up the rankings.
"I’d never criticise him because he’s great entertainment to watch and that’s great for the fans,” said Higgins. “It’s exciting to see someone wind up and have a go. Most players don’t go for anything that’s less than 50/50 but he’s going for pots that are 20/80. He will adapt as he gets more experience because he won’t win many matches against the top players if he’s that open.”
Liang gave a clear example of his skill in the Bahrain Snooker Championship qualifiers at Prestatyn as he made his first official 147 break in a 5-1 victory over Martin Gould. In fact, he compiled breaks of 115, 139, 58, 147 and 139 in arguably the season’s best performance in a single match.
In the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, Liang earned a Crucible berth for the second consecutive year by coming from 5-1 down to beat David Morris 10-8 then crushing Dave Harold 10-3 in the final qualifying round.
The random draw for the first round at Sheffield pitched him against Ding, and the match drew an estimated global audience of 100 million as the eyes of China turned to their TV screens to follow the contest. Liang looked favourite when he came from 7-4 down to lead 8-7, but Ding showed his quality by winning the last three frames to keep his unofficial title of ‘China’s No 1.’ “If I had been 8-7 up against any other player I would have won,” said Liang, who finished the season with a leap of 13 places in the official world rankings to No 27. “When I was leading 8-7, I lost concentration as it was the first time I was leading in the match and I was so close to winning. At the beginning I didn’t play very well and my position with the cue ball wasn’t very good. Next season I will target the top 16.”
A year earlier, Liang had captured the imagination as his swash-buckling style took him to the quarter-finals at the Crucible
After winning four qualifying matches just to get to Sheffield, beating Ian McCulloch in the last round, he scored a surprise 10-5 victory over former champion Ken Doherty.
More drama was to follow as he edged out Joe Swail 13-12 in arguably the match of the championship. That set up a dream quarter-final against Ronnie O’Sullivan, and though Liang ran the Rocket close in the early stages, he finally bowed out 13-7.
The left-hander won the 2005 World Under-21 Championship, beating countryman Tian Pengfei 11-9 in the final in Bahrain. He is based at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield during the season.
Away from snooker, Liang is a keen football fan and is a close friend of former Manchester City and China defender Sun Jihai.

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