When the biggest names in snooker cue off in Beijing next week at the China Open, tens of millions of people will sit up and take notice.

But it won't be the likes of Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan they will be cheering on.

These days, Asia has own crop of snooker stars, led by Chinese wunderkind Ding Junhui and his compatriots Liang Wenbo and Jin Long.

The sport's popularity in the region is on an upward curve, driven by China where a staggering 110 million people tuned into the China Open final last year to watch Ding beat Hendry.

The win elevated Ding to the status of national hero and worked wonders for snooker, placing him alongside Yao Ming in the popularity stakes and giving the sport an invaluable lift in a market of 1.3 billion people.

Nine Chinese will compete in this year's China Open, along with Thai star James Wattana, a former world No 3 who has done much to popularize the sport in Asia.

When he was crowned World Matchplay champion in 1992, defeating Steve Davis 9-4 in the final, he returned to a hero's welcome in his native Bangkok.

He was made a Commander third class of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, a rare honour for a Thai sportsman. At the time, only the legendary Thai boxer Khaosai Galaxy had received such an accolade.

Wattana is currently the highest ranked Asian at 30, with Ding snapping at his hills on 33. Hong Kong's Marco Fu, another long-time stalwart, is at 39 with Liang at 76, Malaysia's Moh Keen Hoo at 95 and Jin at 97.

But it is Ding from eastern Jiangsu Province who has been credited with professionalizing snooker's image in China, where it is often played on city sidewalks, especially on hot summer days.

His victory over Davis at the UK Championships last year fuelled even more interest in a sport that is played by an estimated 50 million people in China.

Sir Rodney Walker, chairman of World Snooker, the commercial arm of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, acknowledged last month that China was the engine driving the sport's future.

"We have been staging world ranking events in China since 1990, and we are sure that our presence has helped to drive the dramatic growth in the popularity of snooker during that period," he said.

"Last year's (China Open) final was watched by an astonishing 110 million people, and that is a clear example of the status of our sport in this country.

"China is such a key growth area for snooker and we are delighted to have capitalized on the great success of last year's tournament in Beijing."

World Snooker has already set up a Chinese language website and, based on the success of last year's event, is looking at staging tournaments in Thailand and Macao.

"We now intend to drive a similar level of expansion across Asia as part of our ambition to develop snooker as a truly international sport," Walker said on World Snooker's website.

"Creating world-class snooker tournaments in Asia is one of our key ambitions," he said. "Our task force is focused to achieve just that, and we are sure that players and fans alike will agree that this is excellent news for the sport."

Next season, China will have even more representatives on the main professional tour after Tian Pengfei and Liu Song qualified by winning Pontin's International Open Series events.

Zhang Xiaoning, president of the China Billiards and Snooker Association, said there were big plans to develop the sport.

"We are working ever more closely with World Snooker," he said.

"We intend to invite coaches to China to support new training initiatives and confirm a full national tour which will support new and young players coming into the sport."

The China Open runs from March 20-26.

(China Daily March 17, 2006)