Hong Kong’s Marco Fu warms up for World Snooker Championships with rare 149 break in practice match
- Fu knocks in high score at Ding Junhui Snooker Academy in Sheffield ahead of qualifiers next week
- Fu and Ng On-yee are in the same half of the draw for the qualifiers, with Fu facing Ian Burns and Ng taking on Rory McLeod
After a two-year absence from the professional circuit, Hong Kong snooker star Marco Fu Ka-chun is back with a bang ahead of his World Championship qualifiers in Sheffield next week.
Fu made a rare 149 break during a practice match on Tuesday against world No 39 Noppon Saengkham of Thailand, at the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy.
The achievement sets Fu up nicely for the qualifiers, which start on Tuesday, and will feature two of Hong Kong’s best players. Fu and Ng On-yee, the women’s world No 2, are in the same half of the draw, with Fu’s first game against world No 111 Ian Burns and Ng facing world No 83 Rory McLeod.
It is the second time Fu has scored more than the normal maximum of 147, he made 148 at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in November 2020 during a practice match with teammate Chau Hon-man.
“Anything over 147 is really rare, I am really happy with this special 149, it is not only because I broke my previous personal best of 148, but also a proof that I am improving day after day,” Fu said.
The 44-year-old returned to the UK on March 22, and was initially practising on his own before starting to play some friendly matches against other top players at the academy in Sheffield.
“I haven’t picked up my cue for about two months due to Covid-19 in Hong Kong, so I need to travel to the UK 10 days earlier to get in shape,” said Fu, whose last competitive match on the professional circuit came at the Welsh Open in February 2020.
“For the first few days, I practised by myself, hoping to pick up some form before practising with some professional players here, there is still room for me to improve, to see if I can catch up with the top professionals before the qualifiers next Tuesday.”
Hong Kong snooker star Marco Fu aims for Crucible after two years away
Wayne Griffiths, the head snooker coach at Hong Kong Sports Institute, said the achievement would give Fu a boost of confidence.
“These 147+ breaks are great achievements for players and many top players never exceed the magic 147. “My dad [Terry Griffiths] was a world champion and triple crown winner, but never made a 147 even in practice, so this break once again underlines Marco’s scoring ability.”
Griffiths said it was quite rare because you needed your opponent to foul first, giving you a free ball to start the break. The most that can be scored in that instance is 155.
Scottish player Jamie Burnett made the first recorded 148 in a UK Championships qualifying match in 2004, while a 149 in a practice by Tony Drago in 1995 is recorded by the Guinness World Records as the highest.
Because Fu, who has won three ranking tournaments in his career, opted to remain in Hong Kong during the worst of the pandemic, his world ranking has dropped.
But World Snooker, the sport’s governing body, gave the world No 121 a two-year invitational tour card last year, and Fu announced his return to professional snooker would come at the World Championship, where he reached the semi-finals in 2006 and 2016.
With only the world’s top 16 guaranteed their spots at the Crucible, 128 players, including the likes of Ding Junhui, Stephen Maguire, Jimmy White, and Fu will battle it out for the remaining 16 places during qualifiers at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield between April 4 and 13.
Fu has played and beaten Burns before, getting the better of him at the 2017 World Open, but the Hongkonger said it did not matter who he played, he just wanted to focus “on my own game”.
Ng, meanwhile, will look to progress beyond the opening round of qualifying for the first time in five attempts.
The 31-year-old enters the tournament on the back of some mixed results, having beaten China’s Wu Yize 4-2 in the qualifying round of last month’s Welsh Open, but then losing to Ryan Day by the same score at the Gibraltar Open last week.
She has also been practising with at the academy, where Fu gave her “some ideas on shot selections”. Ng will warm up for the qualifiers at the Winchester Women’s Open this weekend in Leicester.
