The Crucible crowd took Wu Yize under their wing and a picture of the new snooker world champion puffing on a cigarette will endear him to the traditionalists even more.
In a throwback to maverick legends of years gone by such as Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Bill Werbeniuk – the 22-year-old was seen smoking at a crunch moment of his final showdown with Shaun Murphy.
Yize claimed an incredible final-frame victory over the 43-year-old Englishman to win the 50th edition of the World Championship in Sheffield on Monday.
He became the second-youngest champion after Stephen Hendry’s 1990 triumph aged 21.
And at 16-16 when the players took a break, Yize went outside for some fresh air and could be seen alongside his translator, smoking gold tinted cigarettes behind some barriers by the stage door.
Clearly the brief respite from the stress of the biggest game in his career did the trick.
Wu Yize was pictured smoking his gold-tinted cigarettes with his translator during a break in the World Championship final on Monday afternoon
He came back to the table and just about managed to secure the win 18-17 in the final session.
Snooker’s age of professionalism has changed the game considerably but in the golden era, it was not uncommon for players to smoke and drink around the table itself when the matches were underway.
Higgins, in particular, was a chain-smoker and regarded as the sport’s greatest renegade.
Yize’s popularity has grown enormously over the last couple of weeks, with chants of ‘Wuuuu’ serenading him every time he made the walk to the table.
Initially he thought they were booing him, he said, explaining after securing the £500,000: ”At the beginning, I thought people were booing me. Then they told me they were cheering me on. Thank you so much. The love of snooker is mutual.’
He went on: ‘I have been trying to go for the shots for ages. For the past month I have lived the same life.
‘I’m so happy I played well today. My parents are the true champions.
‘Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum also went through a lot over the years.
‘They are the source of my strength. I love them so much.’
Yize poses with the trophy alongside his parents after edging a thrilling final
A brilliant break of 85 in the 35th frame ended up deciding a match that could have swung either way but Murphy was a gentleman in defeat.
Murphy said: ‘It has been an excellent couple of weeks, an amazing time in Sheffield. A lot of laughs. And jeez, we came close. We were very, very close.
‘I’d like to congratulate Wu Yize and his family and everyone around for being a wonderful world champion.
‘I hate being right. I said sometime earlier in the season, we had a great game out in China. I said he will be world champion one day. Just a real shame it was today.’
