|
Marco Fu hit the snooker
headlines when he beat England's Stuart Bingham to win the 1997
IBSF World Amateur Championship in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Following
this victory he turned professional and entered the 1998 Embassy
reaching the eleventh qualifying round. That put him into the
rankings at 377 and he was ready for his first full season on
the Main Tour.
Marco Fu hit the snooker
headlines when he beat England’s Stuart Bingham to
win the 1997 IBSF World Amateur Championship in
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Following this victory he turned
professional and entered the 1998 Embassy reaching
the eleventh qualifying round. That put him into the
rankings at 377 and he was ready for his first full
season on the Main Tour.
Nobody could have made a more
spectacular start. In the very first event of that
1998/99 season he came through the qualifying rounds
all the way to the final, the lowest ranked player to
do so. Ronnie O’Sullivan and Peter Ebdon were among
his victims. In the final he came up against Stephen
Lee who proved to be too strong and Marco lost by 9-2.
He had caught the eye of Hendry’s manager, Ian Doyle,
who signed him for his Cuemasters stable. He went on
to qualify for the latter stages of four more events
including the world championships and also received an
invitation to the Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge
where he reached the quarter-finals. He leapt up over
300 places in the ranking list to number 35. He was
named WSA Young Player of the year for 1999.
He now had something of a
reputation to live up to but he was up to the task. A
good performance in the Grand Prix again took him to
the quarter-finals. The semi-final in the Rothmans
Malta Grand Prix and then another semi in the Regal
Scottish Open followed a last 16 spot in the Regal
Welsh. He qualified for the Crucible again but failed
to gain a victory however he had done enough to climb
into the top 16 at 15th after just two full seasons.
The future looked bright as he
started the 2001/02 season provisionally ranked as
high as ninth but things did not start well. He failed
to win a match in either the British Open or the Grand
Prix and his confidence was beginning to sag as he
arrived in Motherwell for the Regal Masters. He failed
to win a match there as well but did hit the headlines
with a 147 in his match against Ken Doherty. It
ensured him at least a decent cheque and a car
although he would have to learn to drive before he
could use it. Back on the ranking circuit, he did
reach the last 16 in the UK Championship and in the
China and Welsh Opens but they were to prove his only
three wins of the season. After first round defeats in
Thailand and Scotland he went to Sheffield knowing
that after only one season in the top 16, he now had
to win his opening match to have any chance of staying
there. In Scot, Chris Small, he knew he had a tough
opponent; too tough as it turned out and Marco lost
10-8 to find himself back down to 17th. The only
bright spot in the season was his performance in the
Premier League. He ended the campaign on top of the
table but failed in the play-offs.
In 2001/02, following such poor results in the previous
campaign, he faced a real uphill battle to regain that top 16
spot. He made a promising start, reaching the semi-final of the
Regal Masters but in the ranking events he failed to win a match
in four events and only reached the last 16 in two. He failed to
qualify for the Crucible and dropped down a further ten places
to 27th and he will now be struggling to hold on to his top-32
place.
After such a promising start to his career it is disappointing
to see him slide back down the rankings so quickly. He is
however one of the best overseas players to come into the game
in recent years and I am sure we will see a revival in his
fortunes in the near future
Dividing his
time between Hong Kong, and regular practice and coaching at
Terry Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli, Marco's form improved
in 2005-6 culminating in a semi final appearance in the
888.com World Championship.
In 2006-7 Fu
has relinquished his place in the UK championship in order to
compete in the Doha Asian Games; a sacrifice which is sure to
affect his ranking at the end of the season.
|
