On 30 April 2026, Consul General Tang Rui met with Mr. Steve Dawson, Chairman of the World Snooker Tour, in Sheffield. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on China-UK snooker cooperation.

Consul General Tang Rui noted that over the past two decades, snooker has made significant progress in China. China has become the largest overseas market for the sport, with approximately 200 million enthusiasts, accounting for more than 50 percent of the global audience. A number of Chinese players have been training and competing in the UK for an extended period, while British stars frequently travel to China for tournaments, which has strongly promoted sports and cultural exchanges between the two countries. China stands ready to further leverage the role of the "small ball" and make snooker a new growth area for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the UK.

Dawson noted that China is an important market for snooker, with more than one third of the World Snooker Tour events held in China each year. He expressed the hope that both sides would fully tap their cooperation potential and work together to achieve greater development of the sport.