Wu Yize was able to celebrate the greatest moment of his young life as he lifted the World Snooker Championship trophy aloft in front of a packed Crucible crowd after one of the greatest finals of all time with Shaun Murphy.
The fact he was flanked by his parents resonated even more as he revealed the health struggles his mother had been through and the sacrifices he had to make to achieve his lifelong dream.
Wu came out on top in the first deciding frame in a world final for 24 years, holding his nerve to make a break of 85 and beat Murphy 18-17 – becoming the second-youngest snooker world champion in history and also just the second to come from China.
“My parents are the true champions,” an emotional Wu told the BBC after his triumph. “Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum has also been going through a lot over the years, they are the source of my strength, I love them so much.”
The 22-year-old – who moved over to Sheffield as a teenager with just his father in order to focus on his snooker career – expanded on his mother’s health struggles in his post-match press conference and delivered some good news about her current status.
“My mum wasn’t in very good health condition for a long time,” he explained. “During that time we were in Sheffield, she has been in hospital a lot. She is forever a source of strength to me.
“She is feeling much better now. This is the second time she has visited me in the UK, I think in the future I will take her more to tournaments to be by my side.
“She sacrificed everything for me. At that time she told me ‘don’t come back home, I can manage everything’. It was the second year I was playing in the UK. At that time my ranking was very low so it was a crucial time for me to achieve some good results and keep my professional status. She means everything to me.”
Wu’s rag to riches story is remarkable as he and his father sacrificed a lot to move from the Chinese city of Lanzhou to Sheffield, while speaking almost no English.
His father quit his job and moved to England so his son could practise his snooker but they were so short of money shared a “tiny windowless room, sleeping on the same bed” for the first two years in Yorkshire.
Homesickness was also a problem, with Wu initially brining in limited prize money to pay the bills and buy food.
Earlier in the tournament, Wu explained: “Especially the first year when I arrived in the UK to train and play I wasn’t mentally in a good place. But I’m really happy I overcame many difficulties to come to where I am today.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure and also there was a lot for myself to improve in terms of my game, so I was definitely feeling the pressure at the time.”
Winning the world final lifts Wu to No 4 in the world and the £500,000 cheque for winning at the Crucible means his money troubles are now behind him.
But after beating Murphy, he confirmed that the thought of quitting snooker never crossed his mind.
“I never had a thought to give up,” he said. “Obviously that time was a very tough moment in my life. Living in a poor condition like that, I had so much acne, maybe because of an infection from the air conditioning.
“But I think it was a strength I have built over the years. If you really love snooker it is the path you have to go through and fight through.”
Wu always had an immense work ethic, which is now paying off, and childhood coach Roger Leighton – who tutored the new world champion as an 11-year-old in Foshan, China – spotted it immediately.
“When he came to me, his highest break was 49,” Leighton told The Independent earlier this month. “After a couple of weeks, he hit an 86. I said, ‘That’s great, amazing.’ He said, ‘It’s no good, because Ronnie [O’Sullivan] would have cleared up.’ That’s his mentality. But he was a fun-loving kid. If he missed a ball he hated it, but he laughed a lot and that was his way of releasing pressure.”
That fun-loving kid has now won snooker’s biggest tournament but not without a few hurdles along the way.
