Gao Yang beat Brian Cini 5-3 to capture the 2025 WSF Championship title on Saturday in Morocco.
By emerging with the most prestigious title on offer by the World Snooker Federation, Gao will receive a two-year card to compete on the professional main tour.
The 20 year-old from China also becomes the first player to do the WSF double, having previously won the junior crown in 2020.
After suffering disappointment in last year’s WSF Championship final where he was thrashed 5-0 by Cheung Ka Wai, Gao went one better on this occasion.
He gets a second crack at the World Snooker Tour, which he’ll be able to participate on during the upcoming 2025/26 and 2026/27 campaigns.
Gao enjoyed professional status between 2020 and 2022 on the back of his victory at the WSF Junior Open.
Still only a teenager at the time, positive results were difficult to come by and he quickly dropped off the tour.
But he will be better equipped to handle the challenges this time with more experience and another prestigious international amateur trophy in his locker.
Gao reached the knockout stages of the 2025 WSF Championship with a perfect record of four wins from four games in the initial round-robin phase.
A couple of 4-0 victories then helped him through to the last 16 where he beat Patrick Whelan 4-1.
Gao compiled a terrific 140 century break in his subsequent 4-2 success over Stuart Watson and repeated that scoreline in a semi-final defeat of Fergal Quinn.
In the final, he trailed Maltese opponent Cini 2-1 but managed to win four out of the following five frames to seal success in the tournament.
In addition to gaining promotion to the World Snooker Tour, Gao will also be invited to compete in this year’s World Championship qualifiers in Sheffield.
Ireland’s Leone Crowley won the WSF Junior Championship last week while Mink Nutcharut triumphed in the WSF Women’s Championship.
2025 WSF Championship
Selected Results
Last 16
Brian Cini 4-2 Daniel Womersley
Umut Dikme 4-3 Fung Kwok Wai
Mateusz Baranowski 4-3 Kevin Hanssens
Barry Pinches 4-3 Ashley Hugill
Stuart Watson 4-1 Ian Martin
Gao Yang 4-1 Patrick Whelan
Fergal Quinn 4-3 Ong Jia Jun Jaden
Florian Nuessle 4-1 Zhou Jinhao
Quarter-Finals
Brian Cini 4-0 Umut Dikme
Mateusz Baranowski 4-0 Barry Pinches
Gao Yang 4-2 Stuart Watson
Fergal Quinn 4-3 Florian Nuessle
Semi-Finals
Brian Cini 4-0 Mateusz Baranowski
Gao Yang 4-2 Fergal Quinn
Final
Gao Yang 5-3 Brian Cini
Featured photo credit: WSF
