Pang Junxu ‘not afraid’ of Ronnie O’Sullivan as he looks for Crucible revenge

Pang Junxu beat Ronnie O’Sullivan last time they played and declared that he is not afraid of the Rocket, an attitude he will have to stick to when the pair meet at the Crucible.

The 25-year-old has taken on O’Sullivan reasonably regularly in his short professional career so far, facing the Rocket five times in all competitions and winning two of those matches.

The Chinese talent won his first meeting with the seven-time world champion, although that was over a short format the Championship League, and more impressively won his most recent.

The pair met at this season’s International Championship, with Pang in fine form as he made breaks of 123, 120, 85 and 73 on his way to a 6-4 win, with the two tons coming in the final two frames.

Pang spoke pretty confidently after that excellent victory, saying that his problem before had been a reluctance to attack the legendary cueman, but when he did, he found success.

‘I’ve faced O’Sullivan four times before and lost by very close scores so maybe I was a little afraid to attack before but I relaxed a bit today,’ said Pang after the win in Nanjing.

‘I’m not afraid of him, I’m just learning from him.’

Pang took on O’Sullivan on his Crucible debut in 2023, acquitting himself impressively in a 10-7 opening round defeat.

Looking back on that high profile outing against the defending champion at the time, he said: ‘That was my debut here. The pressure was huge at the start, and I didn’t perform well early on in first session.

‘But after falling behind, I relaxed and started playing better — I managed to win five or six frames in a row in second half. But in the end, the gap was too big to overcome.’

Pang has now qualified for the Crucible for three years on the spin and picked up his first win at the iconic theatre earlier this week when he downed countryman Zhang Anda.

O’Sullivan overcame a sticky start to storm to a 10-4 win over Ali Carter in round one, but Pang believes in himself going into the huge contest with the 49-year-old.

‘I think I do [believe in having a chance to win], as long as I can control my own mistakes,’ he said. ‘The fewer the better.’

On facing players of the calibre of the Rocket, he added: ‘Their shot selection, on-the-spot response ability, and how to handle pressure — there’s so much I can learn from them.

‘My biggest goal is to reduce my errors, keep them as few as possible.’

Pang’s progress since turning professional in 2020 has been impressive, currently at number 27 in the world rankings.

He is not as flashy and spectacular as young Chinese stars like Wu Yize and Si Jiahui, but is a very effective performer in a more methodical way.

An incredibly hard-worker, he has been described as the player who puts in the most hours of anyone at the Ding Junhui Academy in Sheffield, which is some feat given the amount of practice that goes on there.

Ahead of their 2023 meeting in Sheffield, O’Sullivan said of Pang: ‘Yeah I obviously know about him, he’s had a great season, he’s a very, very good player.

‘He gave me a good hiding earlier in the season, so I know the capabilities of him. He’s an unbelievable player.’