 Yan at the2022 European Masters | |
| Born | (2000-02-16)16 February 2000 (age 26) Zibo, Shandong, China |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  China |
| Nickname | The Tiger[1] |
| Professional | 2016–2023 |
| Highestranking | 10 (March 2021) |
| Century breaks | 153 |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 1 |
Medal record | |
| Yan Bingtao | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 顏丙濤 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 颜丙涛 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Yan Bingtao (Chinese:颜丙涛; born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese former professionalsnooker player who is currently serving a five-year ban from professional competition after committing a range of match-fixing offences. He rose to prominence by winning theISBF World Snooker Championship, the sport's world amateur title, in 2014 at age 14, which made him the tournament's youngest ever winner.[2] He turned professional in 2016.[3]
Aged 17 years and 284 days, Yan became the youngest player ever to contest a ranking final when he facedMark Williams at the2017 Northern Ireland Open, but lost in a deciding frame.[4] Yan claimed his first ranking title at the2019 Riga Masters, becoming the third Chinese player, afterDing Junhui andLiang Wenbo, to win a ranking event.[5] He made hisMasters debut at the2021 event, where he defeatedJohn Higgins 10–8 in the final to win his firstTriple Crown title. Aged 20, Yan became the youngest Masters winner since then-19-year-oldRonnie O'Sullivan won it in 1995.[6]
In December 2022, theWPBSA suspended Yan from the professional tour amid amatch-fixing investigation.[7] Following an independent disciplinary tribunal, he was banned from competing professionally until 11 December 2027.[8]
Yan Bingtao was born on 16 February 2000[9] in the city ofZibo, inShandong province, China.[10]
Yan began to feature in professional competitions at the start of the2013–14 season, aged 13,[11] in AsianPlayers Tour Championship events,[11] and as a wildcard player in Chineseranking tournaments.[11] His first win against a professional came in his first match, againstVinnie Calabrese in the2013 Yixing Open.[11] He also secured wins overStuart Bingham,Yu Delu,Barry Pinches andLiang Wenbo during the 2013–14 and2014–15 seasons.[11] He reached the last 32 of the2014 Wuxi Classic and2014 Shanghai Masters.
In November 2014, Yan won theAmateur World Snooker Championship, beating Muhammad Sajjad of Pakistan 8–7 in the final.[12][11] Aged 14, Yan also became the youngest winner of the event beatingZhou Yuelong, who won it aged 15 in 2013.[12] This win earned him a two-year professional card for the2015–16 and2016–17 seasons.[12][11]
Yan was unable to take up his entry in the first ranking tournament of the 2015–16 season, the2015 Australian Goldfields Open, after failing to obtain aUK Visa.[13] He was selected for the Chinese B team in the2015 Snooker World Cup, withZhou Yuelong as his teammate.[14]China B started as 50/1 outsiders but they topped their group, knocking out England in the process, before beating Australia and Wales in the knock-out stages, and Scotland in the final. Between them they pocketed a cheque for US$200,000.[15] Defeated finalistStephen Maguire stated that he believed he had watched two future world champions.[16] Shortly afterwards it was announced that Yan's tour card would be deferred until the 2016–17 season in order for him to complete his education in China and become eligible for a working visa.[17] He did though play in theChampion of Champions for which he gained entry through his World Cup win and, on his debut in the UK, he beatShaun Murphy 4–2, before losing 3–6 toNeil Robertson in the quarter-finals.[18]
Yan finished the year by winning the San Yuan Cup, an amateur Chinese competition, inChengdu, beatingJin Long 5–4 in the final.[19]
A trio of deciding frame wins saw Yan reach the fourth round of thePaul Hunter Classic, where he lost 1–4 toDominic Dale. He also got to the same stage of theEnglish Open with a 4–3 victory overMark Allen, but again was beaten 4–1 this time byRicky Walden. His third last 16 exit of the season came at theNorthern Ireland Open as he was edged out 4–3 byAnthony Hamilton. After knocking outLiang Wenbo 6–4 in the second round of theUK Championship, Yan met World Cup partner Zhou and was defeated 5–6.[20] Yan qualified for theGerman Masters by overcomingSam Baird 5–1 andShaun Murphy 5–4 and at the venue beat Dale 5–2 andMichael Holt 5–1 to reach the first ranking event quarter-final of his career, which he lost 2–5 toStuart Bingham.[21] Yan defeated world number oneMark Selby 4–1 in the third round of theWelsh Open, before being knocked out by a reversal of this scoreline toKurt Maflin.[22] Yan became the second youngest player to compete at theWorld Championship which he qualified for by beatingSam Craigie 10–8,Mark Davis 10–7 andAlexander Ursenbacher 10–4.[23]He won his first frame at theCrucible with a century break, but was 3–6 down toShaun Murphy after the opening session. Yan was also 5–9 behind, but won three frames in a row without Murphy potting a ball. He had a good advantage in the 18th frame, but Murphy fluked a red and then cleared the table to eliminate Yan 10–8.[24]At the end of his debut campaign as a professional he was 56th in the world rankings, the second highest of all the players that started the year with no ranking points.[25]
Following his debut, Yan had another successful campaign in the2017–18 season. His wins overRonnie O'Sullivan,Ricky Walden,Jack Lisowski, andJohn Higgins, saw him make his first career semi final, where he lost 2–9 toMark Allen. He then reached his first career final in theNorthern Ireland Open later that month, beating the likes ofRobbie Williams, Jamie Barrett,Mark King,Ryan Day,Robert Milkins, andLyu Haotian along the way, before losing 8–9 toMark Williams.[26] His world ranking rose rapidly again, standing at 23rd by the end of the season.
Yan's performance in the2018–19 season perhaps was not as strong as the previous season, but his consistency helped his world ranking to climb to 21st.
This season was Yan's best career season yet. He reached one quarter final, four semi finals, and one final. In addition, Yan defeatedMark Joyce 5–2 in theRiga Masters final to claim his maiden ranking title, becoming the youngest title winner sinceDing Junhui won the 2006 Northern Ireland Open.[27] Later in the season, Yan reached the final stage of theWorld Snooker Championship again, but lost toJudd Trump in the second round.
Yan secured his first triple crown event title at theMasters after beatingNeil Robertson,Stephen Maguire,Stuart Bingham, andJohn Higgins. He became the first debutant to win the tournament sinceMark Selby in 2008, and the second Chinese winner of the event afterDing Junhui lifted the title in 2011.[6][28] He also became the youngest player (20 years old) to win the tournament sinceRonnie O'Sullivan in 1995.[10]
| Performance Table Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) | QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
| SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
| DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
| NH / Not Held | means an event was not held. | |||
| NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
| R / Ranking Event | means an event is/was a ranking event. | |||
| MR / Minor-Ranking Event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event. | |||
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2017 | Northern Ireland Open |  Mark Williams | 8–9 |
| Winner | 1. | 2019 | Riga Masters |  Mark Joyce | 5–2 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2020 | Players Championship | Judd Trump | 4–10 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 2022 | German Masters | Zhao Xintong | 0–9 |
|
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2017 | Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games(6-red) |  Soheil Vahedi | 5–1 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2018 | Zibo International Open | Zhou Yuelong | 2–5[30] |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Team | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2015 | World Cup | China B |  Scotland | 4–1 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2017 | CVB Snooker Challenge | China |  Great Britain | 9–26 |
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2014 | IBSF World Snooker Championship |  Muhammad Sajjad | 8–7 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2015 | IBSF World 6-Reds Snooker Championship |  Pankaj Advani | 2–6 |
