Eurosport - Thu, 17 Sep 18:47:00 2009
Chinese ace Liang Wenbo is determined to continue the brilliant form he showed at the Shanghai Masters in next week's Grand Prix qualifiers.
The 22-year-old left-hander went all the way to the final in Shanghai last week, beating former world champions Peter Ebdon and Shaun Murphy, as well as fifth seed Ali Carter and defending champion Ricky Walden before eventually coming up short against Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-5 in the final.
"I had the best week of my snooker career so far in Shanghai," said Liang, whose only previous appearance in the quarter-finals of a ranking event was at the 2008 World Championship, when he lost to O'Sullivan.
"It was really exciting and it's given me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. Beating four top players who have all won ranking events has helped me prove to myself that I belong at that level."
The Grand Prix qualifiers at Pontin's in Prestayn run from Monday to Thursday with 80 players battling for 16 spots, to join the world's top 16 in the televised stages at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow from October 3 to 11.
The likes of Steve Davis, Jimmy White, John Parrott, Ken Doherty, Graeme Dott, Jamie Cope and Judd Trump will be among those competing at Pontin's.
Liang, whose attacking style of play has earned him a large following among Chinese fans, needs to win one match to qualify, and plays Thursday against Dominic Dale, Jin Long, Ben Woollaston or Zhang Anda.
"I want to go on to the qualifiers next week, keep my good form going and try to win my match and make sure I will be at Glasgow as I know the Grand Prix is one of the most important tournaments," said Liang, who comes from the Heilongjiang Province in China but is based during the season at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
"I will keep working hard on my game at the Academy and I hope I can earn some success for myself and for Chinese snooker."
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nice to see I beleve he can do it and win next year will be his best
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