Wu Yize had to pause his winning speech as he dedicated his World Snooker Championship title victory to his parents. When asked by BBC host Hazel Irvine for a word on his parents, who helped him move into a one-bedroom flat in Sheffield to live out his sporting dream, Wu had to take a moment to compose himself before speaking.
After taking a long pause, Wu told his parents: “My parents are the true champions.”
It was at this point that his mother had to wipe tears from her eyes, as the champion continued: “Since I made the decision to drop out of school, my dad has been by my side. My mum has also gone through a lot over the years, they are the source of my strength. I love them so much.”
On his army of new fans, who had been shouting “Wuuuu!” throughout his matches, the player admitted he initially thought they were booing him.
He said: “At the beginning I had a misunderstanding, I thought people were booing me. But the staff told me they were cheering me on and I can’t thank you all enough. No matter who you support, I think the love of snooker is mutual.”
When asked by Irvine how he planned to celebrate, Wu revealed he was looking forward to enjoying a “good sleep”.
Wu added: “Since the first session I was feeling nerves all the time. So right now I just want to go to bed.”
“I have been trying to go for the strength for ages. For the past month I have been leading the same life, I am so happy I could get this done today.”
“I’d like to be the first to congratulate Wu Yize and his family,” the Magician said. “And everyone around him 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 somewhere, and I managed to win that one.
“I came out afterwards and said that he would be world champion one day, it’s just a real shame that it was today, but I couldn’t have given it anymore, I couldn’t have tried harder. I played the best shots I could have played and I didn’t get my chance. I couldn’t do any more than that.”