Pang Junxu

Chinese professional snooker player and 2021 Rookie of the Year, best known for a runner-up finish at the 2023 WST Classic and a notable win over Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Born in Bozhou, Anhui, China, on 15 February 2000, Pang Junxu earned a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour through his performances on the CBSA Tour, joining the main tour for the 2020/21 season and receiving the WST Rookie of the Year award in 2021. Pang reached his first ranking final at the 2023 WST Classic in Leicester, losing 6-2 to home favourite Mark Selby, following earlier career-best quarter-final and semi-final runs at the German Masters and Welsh Open. He qualified for the Crucible for the first time in 2023, pushing defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan on the opening day before losing 10-7, and returned to the World Championship in 2024, beating Oliver Brown and Cao Yupeng in qualifying before a deciding-frame defeat to Robert Milkins. His best-known individual win came in 2024, when he defeated seven-time World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 in the third round of the International Championship in Nanjing, compiling back-to-back centuries in the closing frames. He has continued to compete near the fringes of the world's top 25. Still in his mid-twenties, Pang is regarded as a solid, improving member of China's growing group of tour professionals, with a career-high break of 144 and a maiden ranking title yet to come.

Solid all-round game with a strong scoring touch

A rising member of China's newer generation of tour professionals