Hong Kong’s next Marco Fu? Meet Cheung Ka-wai, the city’s new face on World Snooker Tour
- Cheung ‘can’t believe it’ after becoming only the fourth Hongkonger to earn a place on the elite World Snooker Tour
- He can play on the professional circuit for two years after winning WSF Championship, and calls it ‘the biggest achievement in my snooker life’
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Hong Kong snooker player Cheung Ka-wai said he had fulfilled his dream after earning a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the first time.
He achieved the feat by winning the WSF Championship in Albania on Monday, whitewashing China’s Gao Yang 5-0 in the final to stay undefeated in his 10 matches, during which he lost a total of only four frames.
Cheung’s reward is to join the elite tour for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, making him only the fourth Hongkonger to do so, after Chan Wai-ming, Marco Fu Ka-chun and Andy Lee Chun-wai.
“I am really happy and excited to join the World Snooker Tour and I still can’t believe I can call myself a professional player,” Cheung said. “It’s every player’s dream and this is the biggest achievement in my snooker life.
“I have always wished to be a professional player, so I am really happy to make this happen.”
Although opportunities to significantly boost his earnings now await Cheung, the former IBSF U-18 world champion and 2022 World Games gold medallist remains concerned about the prospect of cue sports losing their entitlement to the highest tier of Hong Kong’s public funding.
“[This triumph] is a significant result for our sport and I hope that the Hong Kong government will consider keeping us,” 24-year-old Cheung said, adding that funding was “crucial” for pros and amateurs alike.
“The status means we get a lot of support to go to all the places to get experience and to play competitions and practise with high-standard players,” he said.
“I hope this can remain unchanged in the future so that I can have an easier way to do well in the World Snooker Tour.”
Vincent Law Wing-chung, chairman of the Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council, admitted things were “out of their hands”.
“Even if our players sit there and don’t play any more competitions, our points are well over the [benchmark for tournament results],” Law said. “We can only keep lobbying the government and let our results do the talking.
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“The government sets the rules, so apparently they can lift any criteria any time should they want to. We have been communicating with government officials but there have been no promises and they just told us to keep fighting for it.”
Separately, Fu went through to the round of 32 at the Welsh Open after coming back from behind to beat England’s Zak Surety 4-3 on Wednesday.
The former world No 5, who now sits 86th in the rankings, was set to face Welsh player Daniel Wells on Thursday.
