The World Snooker China Open 2009 came to an end on April 5 when England's Peter Ebdon secured a hard-fought 10-8 victory over Scotland's John Higgins in Beijing's Peking University Gymnasium.

STRIKING TRUE: England's Peter Ebdon takes aim at the final match of the World Snooker China Open 2009 on April 5 (LUO XIAOGUANG)

With the win, the 38-year-old Englishman picked up his first ranked-event title in more than two years.

"To win here is a dream and a reward for all the hard work I've put in. I'm incredibly proud of this achievement, and in terms of what it means to me, I'd put it close to winning the World and UK titles," Ebdon said. "Being on top of the world is absolutely fantastic."

Higgins, who won the highest-break award, said, "With his (Ebdon) break in the last frame he showed his class, so fair play to him."

There were lots of unexpected results in the 2009 China Open, including upsets for hot seeds like defending champion Stephen Maguire and world's No.1-ranked Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was ousted by Higgins in the semis.

But for players Tian Pengfei and Xiao Guodong, the tournament was all about making a statement, as the two were the only Chinese who made it to the final 16 among the five wild card Chinese in the game.

"The overall level of Chinese players has progressed rapidly in recent years, only bowing to the skills of Britain at present," said Zhang Xiaoning, Director of the Multiball Games Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.

Founded in Beijing in December 1986, the China Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA) joined the World Confederation of Billiard Sports in 1988 and became operational in 1993, when competitions were held nationwide for the first time and annually thereafter. The number of national events had reached eight per year when, in 1996, the CBSA implemented the Billiard Player Accreditation System. A group of registered seniors joined together in January of that year and founded the Star Club, China's first professional billiard club.

After 13 years of development, China now boasts three generations of professional snooker players: 22-year-old Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo lead the first; Zhang Anda, 18, and Xiao Guodong, 20, are among the second; and then a younger group that includes 11-year-old Zhou Yuelong.

In addition to the professional snooker players, the sport has bred a huge number of amateurs in the country.

"There are now tens of millions of people in China playing billiards every day. Shanghai now has over 400 billiards rooms, each having 15 tables and 200 people playing; Beijing has 500 to 700 rooms with 15 plus tables; in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province alone, where the sport was first introduced to China, the number of billiards rooms reaches more than 300," said Ding Wenjun, the father of No.1-ranked Ding Junhui.

Today, 50 million to 60 million Chinese have been involved in billiards, with about 20 million playing regularly, said Wang Tao, an official with the Multiball Games Administrative Center. That huge popularity, he said, sets up a sound foundation for billiards development in China.