Two-time ranking event finalist Xiao Guodong is currently competing in the CBSA National Team Championship in Yulin, Shaanxi. He took time to answer our questions about the coming season and his work as a commentator and pundit in China.
Xiao, how have you spent the summer break so far?
I flew back home to China just after the World Championship. That was the end of the season for me and I also needed to renew my visa. Time between seasons means preparation for the next campaign. I decided not to enter the Championship League so I could spend more time with my family. It's more about my family at this stage of my career. So I’ll get going again with the qualifiers in July. It's great to go straight to Saudi for everyone instead of playing in qualifiers. And it would be fantastic to qualify for Xi'an too. I have been working on my game. I practised for a solid week before going into the National Team Championship. I'm still looking forward to more work on the table, which will certainly happen after I finish the team event.
What’s your approach to the new season?
I hope to go into every season in good spirits. Snooker is my main focus and it always comes first, while I am open to other ideas if opportunity knocks. Getting good results in tournaments is as important as it ever was, because I'm still in my prime years, and I still fancy myself to climb up the rankings. It will be interesting to see how I perform in the first tournament I play. The first key is to adapt psychologically. I try not to give myself too much of burden, I try enjoy myself during the off-season. Then I take my practice and competitions seriously.
You have worked as a pundit for broadcasters in China such as CCTV5 and Huya, how did that come about and how much do you enjoy it?
You have to believe in yourself, whatever line of work you are in. I started getting involved with live streaming in 2019, and got more into it during COVID as I had much more spare time. I was approached by a broadcaster back then as they wanted to try professional players as pundits. I quickly said yes because I always watch the matches anyway and it meant I got to share my thoughts from a player’s angle. I never thought it would become a job that I do fairly well, and I got to make a lot of friends along the way. There were questions asked about whether it would take up too much of my practice time. But I've learned to ignore the comments from others and stick to what I think is the right thing to do.
What’s your goal for the new season?
I want to climb the rankings, then if possible get my first ranking tournament win. It's just so important for a player to win a title and I've always wanted to nail it at some stage of my career. To become a champion will be in my thoughts as long as I'm able to do it.
