Snooker has grown massively in Asia throughout the 21st century. There are over 300,000 snooker clubs in China alone, and various Asian players have appeared in the top 50 of the world rankings over the years.
World Snooker has arranged more events in Asia with the growing interest in the sport.
Every edition of the World Open since 2012 has taken place in China, the China Open has been a ranking event since 1997, and events have been held in India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia.
The favourites in the snooker betting markets might still predominantly be British, but more Asian players are featured near the top of the odds for major events than ever before.
Zhao Xintong
Zhao Xintong became the first Asian snooker world champion in 2025.
Entering the tournament, the Chinese star was out at 18/1 in the sports betting markets, but he defied the odds to defeat Mark Williams in the final at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Following a potentially career-defining ban, Zhao excelled on the Q Tour to earn a place at the UK Championship and 2025 World Championship.
Already a two-time ranking event winner, Zhao had claimed the UK Championship in 2021 and the German Masters in the following year, but he was competing as an amateur with a point to prove in 2025.
He did just that, seeing off Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semis before beating Williams.
Winning the event saw him move from zero ranking points to 11th in the world for the 2025-26 season, becoming the first amateur player to be named world champion in the process.
After the final, Williams compared Zhao’s potential impact on snooker to Luke Littler’s on darts. Time will tell if Zhao can elevate the sport’s profile in the same way.
Marco Fu
Marco Fu reached a career-high of fifth in the world rankings in 2017.
A three-time winner of ranking events and a runner-up at the 2008 UK Championship and 2011 Masters, Fu broke onto the scene as a teenager in the late 1990s, appearing in his first ranking final in 1998.
Born in Hong Kong, Fu has amassed the 22nd-most prize money in snooker history, putting him just ahead of Graeme Dott and behind Matthew Stevens.
He was in the top 16 in the world rankings from 1999 until 2019. Regularly a factor in the latter stages of ranking events, Fu’s last ranking title came in 2016 when he beat John Higgins in the final of the Scottish Open.
Ding Junhui
In a league of his own among Asian snooker players, Ding Junhui was the first Asian to be ranked world number one, has the most career prize money of any Asian player, and has won 15 ranking titles, which is the most of any Asian.
A three-time winner of the UK Championship, Ding has also finished as a runner-up at the Masters and World Championship.
Since breaking into the top 10 in 2007-08, Ding has been a fixture in the top 16 of the world rankings, with his peak coming in the first half of the 2010s.
For much of his career, it seemed inevitable Ding would become the first Asian player to win the World Championship.
The sport’s biggest prize eluded the Yixing native, but he can be credited for attracting a new generation of Asian players to snooker.
James Wattana
Ding and Fu are the only Asian snooker players with more career prize money than James Wattana, who reached a career-high of third in the world rankings during the 1990s.
Wattana erupted onto the scene by winning the Thailand Masters as a 16-year-old.
He became only the eighth player to earn over £1 million in prize money and was a trail blazer in the snooker world at a time when British and Irish players had dominated the sport.
The Thai star aided the growth of the sport in his home country and across the rest of Asia, even becoming the second sportsperson to earn The Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand.
Reaching five Triple Crown semi-finals, Wattana was only a handful of frames away from becoming the first Asian to win a Triple Crown event.
He did, however, secure three rankings titles, two of which were the Thailand Open while he was also a three-time runner-up at the British Open.
Fan Zhengyi
Fan Zhengyi defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the 2022 European Masters to become only the fifth Chinese player to win a ranking title.
It might be premature to include Fan on this list, but his career trajectory certainly suggests he will be among the greatest Asian snooker players of all-time by the end of his career.
A semi-final appearance at the Champion of Champions is Fan’s best showing aside from his glory at the European Masters.
His unusual technique has raised some eyebrows around the snooker world, but his success at junior levels shows it’s a formula which can work for him.
Liang Wenbo and Yan Bingtao are honourable mentions for this final spot in our rankings.
The pair have had more successful careers than Fan to date, but we expect the youngster to overtake his compatriots before the end of the decade.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Adobe*
