Cue Sports Weekly: Chang Bingyu Beats Snooker's Two Newest World Number Ones in the Same Week

One week. Two reigning world number ones. Chang Bingyu beat both of them on his way to the Wuhan Open title, and somehow that's not even the strangest sentence to come out of snooker this month.

Let's get into it.

Chang Bingyu Completes the Set, Beating Zhao Xintong in the Wuhan Open Final

If you read last week's edition, you'll remember Chang Bingyu as the player who ended Judd Trump's two-year run at world number one with a shock 5-1 quarter-final win. What we didn't know yet was that Chang wasn't finished. He went on to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 in the semis, then closed out the tournament with a 10-7 win over Zhao Xintong in Saturday's final — the same Zhao Xintong who'd only just become world number one days earlier.

So in the space of one tournament, Chang beat the outgoing world number one and the incoming one, back to back. That's not a normal week for anybody outside the very top of the game, let alone a player who came into the event without a ranking title to his name.

It wasn't entirely straightforward for Chang either — reports from the final mentioned a genuinely rough miss along the way, one bad enough that commentators were calling it one of the worst shots they'd seen in a final in years. He got away with it. Zhao didn't have the answers to close the gap either way, and Chang closed it out 10-7 for his maiden ranking title.

O'Sullivan's tournament ended in the semis, and he's since confirmed he'll skip the upcoming British Open, continuing a stretch of UK event absences. No further detail beyond that — we'll leave it there rather than speculate.'

Heyball vs Pool: The Question We Keep Getting Asked

We hear this one constantly, in comments, in emails, at the club — "what's actually different about heyball, is it just pool with extra steps?" Quick answers below, and if you want the full breakdown of any of these, we've already built exactly that.

Is it the same balls and rack as 8-ball? Yes, genuinely identical — 15 object balls, same triangle rack, groups split 1-7 and 9-15 instead of solids and stripes, but structurally the same setup.

So what's actually different? The table and the rules around it. Heyball runs on a 9ft table with snooker-style rounded pockets and tighter cushions, no call-shot requirement, and a strict shot clock most casual pool never has. Same rack, completely different game to actually play.

Is heyball harder than regular pool? In most ways, yes — the pocket tolerance alone punishes shots that would drop comfortably on a standard table.

Where do I see this side by side? That's genuinely the best way to understand it rather than read about it — our Heyball vs 8-Ball comparison tool lets you toggle between the two and see the table, pockets, and rules change in real time. If you want the full deep dive with everything we could verify, our Heyball vs 8-Ball breakdown covers it properly.

Drill of the Week: The Cushion First

Discipline: Universal — works for 8-ball, 9-ball, and heyball

Difficulty: Intermediate

What it trains: Judging rebound angle off a cushion before committing to a shot

Setup

Place a single object ball a couple of feet off one side cushion. Set the cue ball anywhere with a clear path to that cushion, positioned so a direct shot at the object ball isn't realistically on.

Pottheblack.com Weekly Drill

The Task

Play the cue ball off the cushion first, then into the object ball, sending it toward any pocket. Ten attempts, tracking how many actually connect cleanly off the rebound.

Why It Works

Cushion-first shots get avoided by most club players simply because the extra rebound feels unpredictable, so they go for the riskier direct route instead even when it's the worse option. Practicing this deliberately builds real trust in reading rebound angles, which opens up safer, higher-percentage shot choices in an actual match instead of forcing low-percentage direct attempts because the cushion route feels unfamiliar.

Looking Ahead

The British Open is next on the calendar, and it'll be one to watch with the rankings picture still settling after Wuhan's chaos. We'll have coverage once the draw's out.

If a rules argument comes up at your own table this week, our Tools section has both foul explainers ready to settle it, plus the free draw maker if you're organizing anything yourself.