00:00Fan Jenny is a rising star in the world of snooker.
00:05Aged just 24, he's a top 5 player in China and ranked 46th in the world.
00:11He is training for the World Snooker Championship held in the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
00:17Like many top Chinese players, Fan moved to Sheffield when he was just 17 to train among the best.
00:24Most of the Chinese players come to train in Sheffield because the Crucible is here, where the World Championship takes place.
00:33Also the Academy is in Sheffield and our Chinese players train here.
00:38Fan trains at the Ding Jun Wei Academy, founded by China's most successful snooker player ever.
00:44The players, the tables, the equipment here, I think they are already the best in the UK, absolutely.
00:52There is no professional environment like this in China.
00:56Snooker is highly popular in China. The country has the second highest number of top 100 ranked players in the world, after England.
01:04Tian Pengfei is one of them. He comes to the Academy to mentor the next generation of players.
01:11For Asian players, the challenge is we need to stay here. We are like a community.
01:17You know, we are going out together, we practice together, so we try to live in here.
01:22Even the young ones, I think, definitely will be lonely, because family in China.
01:28About 15 Chinese players train at the Academy every day, seven days a week, never losing sight of the end goal.
01:36We not come to holiday. We come to work. That's why the challenge is a bigger challenge. You need to work. You need to win. You need to win the tournament. That's the bigger challenge, you know.
01:48Some of these Chinese players will be chasing their dreams, competing in the World Snooker Championship to be held at the iconic Crucible Theatre from this weekend.
01:57Catherine Drew, CGTN.
01:58Catherine Drew, CGTN.
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