China's Snooker Revolution: Both professional and women's world number ones are now Chinese

For the first time in snooker history, players from China hold the world number one ranking on both the professional and women's tours simultaneously.

Last weekend, 23-year-old Bai Yulu won her third consecutive UK Women’s Snooker Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

Bai - who earlier in the week, narrowly lost 4-3 to Ross Muir in the last 64 of the 2026 British Open in Cheltenham - dropped just two frames throughout the entire tournament, one to Anupama Ramachandran in the semi-finals (4-1) and one to Reanne Evans (4-1) in the title match. In that final win over Evans, she made breaks of 103 and 117.

Victory for Bai is her sixth title triumph from her last nine outings on the World Women’s Snooker Tour, and the perfect way to bounce back on the circuit having lost her world crown in May when she suffered a shock loss to eventual champion Panchaya Channoi in the quarter-finals.

As well as securing a UK Championship three-peat in Yorkshire last weekend, Bai also climbed back to the top of the women’s tour rankings, an accolade she lost to Hong Kong’s Ng On Yee after the aforementioned World Championship that was held in Dougguan City.

Back in January - after winning the World Snooker Federation Women’s Championship that was held in Sofia, Bulgaria - Bai created history in becoming the first player from mainland China to reach the summit of the women’s global standings.

The women’s snooker scene has used a rankings system since the early 1980s, although it wasn’t until 2018 that a player from outside of the United Kingdom (On Yee) became world number one.

Since then, Thailand’s Mink Nutcharut has also held the accolade, but her latest run at the top from August 2023 was halted by Bai initial stint there.

Bai’s return to top spot on the WWST coincides with Chinese compatriot Zhao Xintong becoming world number one on the professional circuit.

The first player from China - and Asia - to win the World Snooker Championship when he lifted the iconic trophy at the Crucible Theatre in May 2025, Zhao has since won a further three ranking events.

At last month’s Wuhan Open on home soil in the Far East, a quarter-final victory over Neil Robertson - the player he was battling with for the elite rankings prize - guaranteed Zhao to become world number one for the first time in his career at the end of the tournament.

The 29-year-old made the final where he lost to fellow countryman Chang Bingyu, but when the standings were revised he was crowned only the second player from China - and again, Asia - to sit at the top of the global ratings.

Only the 13th player overall in professional snooker history to be there, Zhao followed in the footsteps of Chinese trailblazer Ding Junhui who was WN1 for a week in December 2014, and then for a fortnight across January/February 2015.

Despite a first round exit at this week’s English Open, Zhao is certain to finish the tournament in first place as he began it with more than £125,000 between himself and second-placed Mark Selby.

With Zhao and Bai both heading the respective ranking lists in the professional and women’s games, it underscores the sport's growing shift towards China.

The last two winners of snooker’s blue riband crown at the Crucible have come from China (Zhao in 2025 and Wu Yize in 2026), meanwhile Bai claimed back-to-back World Women’s Snooker Championship titles in 2024 and 2025.