Former snooker professional Niu Zhuang wins massive first prize at the 2025 World Heyball Masters
Niu Zhuang defeated Chinese compatriot Zhang Taiyi 23-11 in the final to win the 2025 JOY World Heyball Masters and pocket a massive first prize of $5 million Chinese Yuan (approximately £518,000).
The 13th edition of Heyball's blue riband event, an initial field of over 600 competitors from across the world travelled to Chengdu in China for the 22-day extravaganza.
The tournament was split into three different phases - stages one, two, and three - with Chinese and 'international' players separated across the opening two stages. Each of those phases used a double elimination format, meaning players essentially had two lives, although this was reset for each stage.
30-year-old Niu had to run the gruelling gauntlet from the start, unlike some other players in the competition who didn't enter the fray until later. During stage one, he won three consecutive matches to advance, defeating Liu Yang (13-8), Liu Xin (13-9) and Yu Haitao (13-8).
However, in stage two, Niu lost his opening match 13-9 to Chu Bingjie and was immediately sent to the losers' side of the draw where he battled back by eliminating Liang Shiyu 13-11 and Yang Zicheng 13-6 to qualify for the final phase.
Stage three featured the 32 remaining players in the tournament - 16 Chinese players and 16 'international' players - who were then all mixed in together for the draw.
Niu defeated Chen Shuangyou 13-6, Shivam Arora 13-4, Chu Bingjie 15-14, Yongjun Park 17-5, and then Myanmar's Phone Myint Kyaw 19-15 in the final of the winners' side of the draw.
In the grand final, Niu faced Zhang, whose passage to the showpiece fixture was a lot more complicated having lost his first match of stage three to Liu Xin, 13-10. Zhang had to navigate the long road back via the losers' side where he won eight successive matches with his final life, defeating Phone 19-12 in the losers' side final.
However, Niu was too strong for Zhang in the grand final as he registered nine break-and-runs and seven rack-and-runs in a convincing victory.
A first-time winner of the prestigious title, the triumph represented back-to-back glories for Niu on the World Heyball Tour as he had recently won a Division One station event in Tianjin.
Niu's name will be familiar to some snooker fans as he appeared on the professional circuit between 2017 to 2019 having won a tour card for the sport's top flight through the Chinese domestic circuit.
He was unable to make an impact on the professional scene, though, - a last 32 finish at the 2018 German Masters being his best result - and was relegated from the tour and hasn't been back since.
The 2025 JOY World Heyball Masters featured an overall prize fund of nearly $1,620,000 US Dollars. Whilst the first prize was slightly more than what Zhao Xintong recently collected for winning the 2025 World Snooker Championship (£500,000), the payout structure was very heavily weighted at the top, perhaps in a PR effort to outdo the Crucible Theatre's top offering.
Fourth place in Chengdu trousered $41,000 USD, which was more than 16 times less than what champion Niu banked. At the last World Snooker Championship, semi-finalists won £100,000 each - exactly five times less than the champion's purse.
However, there is no denying that Heyball is on the rise in the Far East, as they continue to build a global circuit and are making big efforts in becoming an Olympic sport.
Several current and recent ex-professional snooker players travelled to China to take part; Gary Wilson and Ashley Hugill both made it through to stage three where they finished joint 25th. Hugill did it from the opening stage. Chris Melling bowed out a little bit later in stage three.
Noppon Saengkham, David Lilley, Ricky Walden, Matthew Selt, Andrew Pagett and Elliot Slessor also took part; several of them won matches but didn't make it to the final rounds.
Former World Women’s Snooker Champion Kelly Fisher went deep into stage three before being stopped by Zhang Kunpeng, 15-12. Women players in the tournament received a one-ball handicap for each rack.
Mark Williams - who is sponsored by JOY - was due to be in the tournament, but he withdrew as his appearance clashed with his memorable run to the Crucible final.
What is Heyball, Chinese 8-ball pool?
Heyball - a brand name for Chinese 8-ball pool - is a hybrid cuesport.
It is effectively played on a small sized snooker table that has napped cloth and snooker-style cut pockets. American pool balls are used, and the object of the game - in simple terms - is to pot either the ‘spots or stripes’ ball set followed by the 8-ball to win a frame/rack.