Another Chinese Rising Star?

[Scaramouche]

At the China Open Shaun Murphy got dumped 5 - 2 by 18 year old wild card entry Lu Ning.

Lu started out winning the first two frames.
Then Murphy drew even.
I saw the last three frames, which included two centuries, Lu's two highest breaks in competition.

Seems like the real deal.
I think he tangles with Ali Carter next round.
http://prosnookerblog.com/calendar/201112-resultsdraws/china-open-2012-tournament-draw/

 

[Cameron Smith]

There's lots of them, but they seem to just fill out the bottom portions of the rankings. Ding, Liang and Marco are the only ones to break into the top 16 and Liang only managed it for a season. I wonder why. I'm guessing it has as much to do with language barrier as it does proximity from home.