Sporting Life
Luca Brecel enjoys the celebrations
Luca Brecel enjoys the celebrations

Will Luca Brecel spearhead a new golden generation of younger snooker stars?

By Sporting Life
Snooker
Tue May 02, 2023 · 2y ago

Newly-crowned world champion Luca Brecel has been backed to spearhead a new golden generation of snooker superstars so talented they could even go on to rival the exploits of the fabled ‘Class of ’92’.

That is the opinion of WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson who watched the 28-year-old Belgian hold true to his swashbuckling style to sink Mark Selby 18-15 and become the first player from continental Europe to claim the Crucible title.

For many years there's been a lot of concern expressed about the lack of British talent coming through the struggling grassroots of the game and there were only two home players under the age of 30 at the Crucible; Jak Jones of Wales, aged 29, and England’s Elliot Slessor, aged 28.

By contrast, the four Chinese qualifiers – Pang Junxu, Si Jiahui, Fan Zhengyi and Wu Yize – were all younger than 24 - while Brecel became the youngest winner since Shaun Murphy in 2005 and saw him finally complete a belated ascent that had started as an extremely promising a junior.

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Brecel’s victory came 11 years after he became the youngest Crucible debutant at the age of 17, and after five previous failed attempts to get beyond the first round.

However, looking at the global game as a whole, Ferguson believes this year’s tournament offered an ideal blueprint for future players to emulate the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams, who have dominated well into their 40s.

And they could hopefully inspire British youngsters to take up the sport.

“I often hear about the ‘Class of 92’ and people constantly saying you’ll never replace them, but I can tell you the class that is coming through now is really going to push on the sport,” said Ferguson.

“The way Luca and Si played is the way the game is supposed to be played. It’s magical watching them score. There was point yesterday where Luca started taking on some big shots and missing them, and Mark kept coming back, but Luca didn’t stop going for them.

“It just shows you can play that slightly more open attacking game even against the very best, and you can go the distance. Some of those matches were just unbelievable.”

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