The lady is right on cue

World champion Ng On-yee of Hong Kong is out to prove a point, as Agence France-Presse reports

Snooker world champion Ng On-yee made history in March by becoming the first Asian to top the women's world rankings.

Now the Hong Kong pioneer, who embarks on her world-title defense in Malta this week, wants to change the image of the male-dominated game and enable more women to follow in her footsteps.

Instantly recognizable with her large round-rimmed spectacles, Ng, 27, is coy about her achievement, describing her ascent to No 1 as "a surprise" after being informed of it by her coach, Wayne Griffiths.

The milestone came after a record 2017 when Ng won her second world championship and six other titles. But she has no intention of stopping there－now she is striving to make a mark on the men's circuit.

In 2016 Ng became the first Asian woman to be invited to the men's world championship and, although she lost in the first qualifying round, she saw it as a valuable learning experience.

She is keen to dispel the image of snooker as a male-dominated sport, saying that physical strength does not matter.

"It is a mind game," Ng said. "To play the best game is to forget about winning and losing and try to apply what I've learned from my daily training."

Overtook rival

In February she finally overtook long-standing world No 1 Reanne Evans of England－who held top spot for a decade－after reaching the semifinals of the British Open.

"Reaching No 1 is one step, maintaining the ranking is another," Ng said, pointing out the narrow points gap separating the top players.

"I try not to focus too much on it, because whether I'm the world No 1 or not, it shouldn't affect my game," she added.

She is part of a growing band of female snooker stars emerging in Hong Kong－there are remarkably three other women from the southern Chinese city occupying spots in the world top 15.

Hong Kong's best-known men's player remains veteran Marco Fu－one of Ng's idols. He is ranked 10th in the world and is a former world championship semifinalist, but the 40-year-old has been forced to take a break while he recovers from an eye problem.

The sport's popularity is also exploding on the China mainland, which now hosts half a dozen men's world ranking events.

China's Ding Junhui, currently ranked fourth, was the first Asian to reach world No 1, in 2016.

Ng said 40-year-old Fu is an inspiration and she sent a message urging him to rest after hearing he had undergone surgery for retinal degeneration in his left eye.