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Fans watch intently as Trump plays a shot during his match against Iran at the World Cup in Wuxi on July 5. According to the Englishman: "People often say to me, 'even though Ding is from China, I still support you.'" [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] |
Judging by his performances so far in Wuxi, Trump may be right. The "Juddernaut" has been in blistering form at the World Cup, helping England win 22 out of its first 25 frames at the tournament.
With his team already assured of a quarterfinal place, Trump is clearly relishing the prospect of a meeting with one of the Chinese teams in the knockout phase.
"To play China in China in the World Cup would be an amazing feeling," he says.
An England-China tie could see Trump face up against world number four and Wuxi native Ding. Though the world number three pronounces himself "quietly confident" of beating any opponent, it is clear that he has huge respect for his Chinese peer.
"Ding's a great player, he'll certainly be one of the all-time greats," he says."I think what he's done for China, he'll be remembered as like a hero. He's changed the whole perception of snooker and made it one of the biggest sports over here, and he's probably one of the biggest stars over here as well."
There's a sense that Trump is a little envious of the enormous cachet snooker players enjoy in China compared to the UK.
Despite his status as a former world number one and the youngest player ever to score a maximum 147 break in a competitive match, Trump is possibly better-known in China than he is in his own country.
The Englishman has even more followers on Chinese social media site Weibo than he does on Twitter, and he says that he's always amazed by how often he gets recognized in China.
"China's mad, really. On my way over here I flew China Eastern, that was crazy!" he laughs. "You're kind of looked up to here as a superstar, so you've got to portray the right image."
Trump believes that the huge support base for snooker in China will inevitably lead to the country supplanting the UK as the main powerhouse in the sport.
"I think obviously judging by the players coming through [in China] that it's taken off in the last five years. China more than anyone has started to dominate the sport—there's probably, I'm not sure, about 10 or 15 players [on the tour]," he states.
"In the future, you're probably going to see about half the tour from China … So I think China will probably dominate in the future, it's just about taking it to the next level."
Contributing to this shift toward China in world snooker is the relative decline of the sport in Trump's home country, and he does not mince his words when asked whether the UK is doing enough to promote the sport.
"No, not at all! It's barely seen as a sport back in England. It gets no coverage, anything," he laments. "It's overlooked by everything really. There's no media coverage, nothing, so I think a lot more could be done."
