Marco Fu searching for consistency as he slows down in bid for Crucible return

Three-time ranking event winner Fu dispatched former world women’s champion Mink Nutcharut, 10-1, to reach the second qualifying round at the English Institute of Sport where he will meet Welsh youngster Liam Davies.

Once as high as fifth in the world rankings less than a decade ago, Fu has had a difficult few years away from the table which have affected his results on it.

The Hong Kong star - who has twice featured in the semi-finals of the World Championship - has had to contend with eye issues, travel problems during the Covid-19 Pandemic, and having made a very good start to this season, his progress was halted when he broke his elbow and had to sit on the sidelines for several weeks.

Currently positioned 85th in the world rankings, 48-year-old Fu has to navigate four consecutive rounds of qualifying in order to appear at the Crucible for the first time since 2018 when he was the number 11 seed.

But he began the preliminaries gauntlet at the EIOS impressively, compiling a trio of century breaks - 100, 105, 137 - and efforts of 94, 74 and 65 to go through with plenty of spare change.

Fu trying to find a good balance with his game

During his younger years on the baize, Fu wasn’t known for his speed around the table, but quickened up around a decade ago, and has become even faster with his shot execution.

On the current seasonal average shot time list - as published on the World Snooker Tour website - Fu is actually top with 17.1 seconds, the speediest player this term, ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan (17.3) and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (17.6) who are second and third respectively.

Speaking with the World Snooker Tour shortly after his victory, though, Fu - who appears to have been playing instinctively due to his eye issues - said he is trying to slow down his game a touch to return to a more natural pace that better suits him.

“It’s not great. I think playing fast is quite easy, but I mean it’s not easy to perform when you’re playing that fast. So I think it’s just a matter of finding a good balance” said Fu.

“Some of the top players are really struggling with their rhythm - some of them play too quick, some of them play too slow - so I think it’s not as easy as people think.

“So I’ve been working a little bit on the rhythm, trying to slow down a little bit, try to play to the type of speed that I was playing over ten years ago - I’m guessing maybe 19, 20 seconds a shot, which is about right for me.

“I worked on it a little bit in Yushan (for the recent World Open) and it worked OK, but just need to perform under pressure.”

Having won the world under-21 and amateur championships in the previous year, Fu turned professional in 1998 and during his rookie season stunned the snooker world by reaching the final of the Grand Prix. However, he had to wait another nine years for his maiden ranking title, which came at the same event.

Fu has been a Far East trailblazer and enjoyed a fantastic career with several top flight titles to his name, including the Premier League, although he has suffered with inconsistency as his career ranking graph proves with spells in and out of the elite top 16 bracket.

It’s something that even now Fu is trying to remedy, saying: “But it’s all about the consistency, right? I mean, all the players can perform to that standard, it’s just a matter of how often can you do it under pressure, right?

“It’s something that I’ve always been struggling with throughout my career is the consistency compared to some of the top players. I don’t think our top game is that much different, but it’s just the consistency.

“So, yeah, it’s a tough game, but still enjoying the challenge.”

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Championship qualifying rounds, visit here.