Li Yan

Li Yan (; born September 17, 1992) is a former professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China.

Career

Early career Li received a wild card for the 2008 Shanghai Masters, losing 1–5 to Anthony Hamilton. At the 2009 Shanghai Masters, he defeated Gerard Greene 5–4, before losing to Ryan Day in the last 32.

2011/2012 season Li qualified for the 2011/2012 professional Main Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the second 2011 Q School event. As a new player on the tour Li would need to win four matches in order to reach the main stage of the ranking tournaments. He accomplished this in qualifying for the second biggest tournament on the snooker calendar, the UK Championship, with wins over Stuart Carrington, Andy Hicks, Jack Lisowski and Fergal O'Brien. He faced former world champion Shaun Murphy in the first round of the event and was beaten 3–6. He could not qualify for another tournament for the remainder of the season but did play in all 12 of the PTC events throughout the season reaching, but not progressing past, the last 16 on three occasions.

Li finished the season ranked world number 67, just outside the top 64 who retain their places on the tour. However, due to being ranked 43rd on the PTC Order of Merit he secured one of the eight spots for the highest non-qualified players to play in the 2012/2013 season. His best results in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events were last 16 losses in the third Asian PTC and the fourth European Tour Event, to Stuart Bingham and Rory McLeod respectively. Li dropped 17 places in the rankings during the year to finish it at world number 84.

2013/2014 season The first ranking tournament Li could qualify for in the 2013/2014 season was the Indian Open by beating Peter Lines 4–2. He then edged out Jeff Cundy 4–3 to record his first ever win in the main draw of a ranking event, before being thrashed 4–0 by John Higgins. Li also qualified for the International Championship and World Open during the season, losing to compatriots Liang Wenbo and Ding Junhui in the first round. The result ensured Li would not be among the top 64 in the world rankings who keep their places on the snooker tour as he was ranked number 86 and so he played in Q School in an attempt to earn his place back. Li lost in the last 128 of the first event and the last 32 of the second to confirm his exit from the tour.

2015/2016 season Li only played in the Haining Open and was eliminated 4–1 in the first round by John Higgins.

Performance and rankings timeline

Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.