Pang Junxu may not be a household name or given much of a chance by the bookmakers, but Ronnie O’Sullivan expects a serious challenge when the pair meet at the Crucible on Saturday.
The Rocket begins the defence of his World Championship title against the Chinese debutant, with the 23-year-old handed the toughest task of all on his first trip to the iconic venue.
It will not be the first time the players have met, though, with Pang winning their only previous meeting, although a Championship League contest over a best-of-four frames is a long way from the challenge of the Crucible.
O’Sullivan took note of that 3-1 defeat, though, and has watched Pang reach his first ever quarter-final (German Masters), semi-final (Welsh Open) and final (WST Classic), all since the start of February.
The impressive rise of Pang has caught the eye of many snooker fans and O’Sullivan is among them.
‘Yeah I obviously know about him, he’s had a great season, he’s a very, very good player,’ said the defending champion.
‘He gave me a good hiding earlier in the season, so I know the capabilities of him. He’s an unbelievable player.’
Pang beat veteran former world champion Ken Doherty and then fellow rising Chinese star Xu Si in qualifying to reach the Crucible and said he wasn’t fussed who he got in the draw.
The Sheffield-based player is keen to learn from whoever he plays, and there is no one better to learn from than the world number one.
‘I’m OK to play anyone,’ Pang said after coming through qualifying. ‘You learn different things from playing different players.
‘I just want to learn from them when I play everyone, because they all have different specialties, and weakness.’
Pang is one of five debutants in Sheffield this year, with Fan Zhengyi, Wu Yize, Si Jiahui and Jak Jones all joining him at the Crucible.
As with anyone coming through qualifying and taking on a top 16 player, they have been handed seriously difficult tasks, with Fan playing Mark Allen, Wu taking on Neil Robertson, Si facing Shaun Murphy and Jones getting Ali Carter in the first round draw.
MORE : Who can stop Ronnie O’Sullivan on his quest for an eighth World Snooker Championship title?
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