China’s wait for snooker world champion goes on as ‘female Ding’ Bai Yulu loses women’s final
- Teenager is beaten to the crown by Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan of Thailand as her dream run ends at the last hurdle
- 12-time winner Reanne Evans calls tournament’s £8,000 (US$9,600) winner’s cheque ‘disgusting’ compared with £500,000 for men’s champion
The teenager was beaten 6-3 in the final in Bangkok on Saturday by Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan of Thailand, who also looked an unlikely winner at the outset before, like Bai, picking off some illustrious names.
Neither finalist featured on the event poster, but between them they removed several of those who did, with 19-year-old Bai, on her tournament debut, stunning 12-time winner Reanne Evans 5-3 and Siripaporn knocking out her compatriot and reigning world champion Mink Nutcharut 5-2 in the semi-finals.
Their showdown began with Bai – the first mainland Chinese player to reach the final, although Hong Kong’s Ng On-yee is already a three-time winner – taking a 2-0 lead.
After her opponent brought it back to 2-2, Bai won the next to lead at the midsession interval. She was overhauled, however, as Siripaporn took four frames in a row to clinch the title and with it a wild card for the men’s World Snooker Tour.
Bai was already a winner of the International Billiards Snooker Federation World Under-21 Championship and caused a major stir in her opening group match by delivering a 127 break, the highest in the tournament’s history.
