Ju Reti

Ju made snooker history in 2013 when he became the first player ever to win a tournament carrying ranking points while competing as an amateur.

At Asian Tour event two – the Zhangjiagang Open in China – he beat Qin Jianfeng, Xu Xinjian, Chen Zifan, Cao Yupeng, Da Hailin and Lyu Chenwei to set up a final meeting with Michael Holt. And Ju beat the Englishman 4-1 to take the £10,000 top prize.

Ju, a member of the Uyghur ethnic group from the Xinjiang region in the north west of China, said: “I’ve been practising hard for years so I think I deserve this win. I wasn’t feeling pressure when facing Michael Holt and I was confident. I played an open match.

“I made four maximum breaks in practice before the tournament. I guess the main reason for my form could be that I do not smoke and do not drink either. I kept practising and thinking about my snooker. I’m a farmer, I’ve never been to school. I loved snooker since school age and play as much as I can.”

His victory got him into the Players Championship Grand Finals in Preston and he was drawn against Judd Trump in the first round but lost 4-1.

He also earned a place on the main tour in 2014 as one of the four qualifiers from the Asian Tour Order of Merit but he was relegated in 2016