Taylor hails Hendry
Dennis Taylor, having played professionally from 1972-2000, said Stephen Hendry was the greatest player the sport had seen.
"No 2 Steve Davis, No 1 Steve Hendry," he said when asked who was the best player he had faced on the baize.
Meanwhile, the winner of the 1985 world title tipped China's world No 5, Ding Junhui, to become the first Asian player to win the World Championship.
"Ding will be the first world champion from Asia. He has a very good chance, along with John Higgins, to win the World Championship this year," said the former world No 2. "I think Ding is ready. He has won the UK championship twice."
Taylor said he was happy to see the rise of non-British players in snooker and expects China to be a powerhouse in the future.
"To have an Australian world champion is very good," Taylor said of Neil Robertson, the current Crucible king. "To have an Asian world champion would be even better. For many years, James Wattana from Thailand was the big Asian player. I think in the next 10 years, I think there will be four Chinese players in the top 10.
"Ding is a top player and they (other Chinese players) have watched him become a top player. Like in Scotland, there were no top players until Stephen Hendry became world champion, then there were a lot of Scottish players. They just copy what they see."
(China Daily 03/13/2011 page7)
