- Ding Junhui
-
Not to be confused with Ding Jinhui.
Ding Junhui
Ding JunhuiBorn 1 April 1987
Yixing, Wuxi, Jiangsu, ChinaSport country China Nickname Star of the East
Enter The Dragon
The Chinese SensationProfessional 2003 – present Highest ranking 4 (5 months) Current ranking 6 Career winnings UK£1,000,000+[1] Highest break 147 (2 times) Century breaks 221 Tournament wins Ranking 4 Minor-ranking 1 Non-ranking 2 Medal record Competitor for China Men's Snooker World Games Silver 2005 Duisburg Individual Asian Games Gold 2002 Busan Individual Bronze 2002 Busan Team Gold 2006 Doha Individual Gold 2006 Doha Doubles Gold 2006 Doha Team Silver 2010 Guangzhou Individual Gold 2010 Guangzhou Team Ding Junhui (Chinese: 丁俊晖; pinyin: Dīng Jùnhuī; born 1 April 1987 in Yixing, Wuxi, Jiangsu) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Ding Junhui is China's most successful player ever, having become only the second teenager, after John Higgins, to win three ranking titles.[2] As a prolific breakbuilder Ding has compiled more than 200 century breaks during his career.[3]
In December 2006, he enrolled at Shanghai Jiao Tong University to study Business Administration and Management.[4] He is a resident of England during the snooker season. He is good friends with fellow countryman Liang Wenbo and they are training partners in Sheffield World Snooker Academy.[5]
Contents
Career
Early life
Ding started playing snooker at the age of nine, when his father took him to the Chinese national team training centre near Shanghai. His father persuaded his mother to sell their house in order for Ding to continue playing snooker as a career.[6]
Ding shot to international prominence in 2002, when he won the Asian Under-21 Championship,[7] the Asian Championship[7] and the IBSF World Under-21 Championship (became the youngest ever winner of the World Under-21 Championship at the age of fifteen).[7] He was unable to progress much in 2003, as both the Asian Championship and Under-21 Championship had to be cancelled because of the SARS virus crisis, but he was a semi-finalist in the IBSF World Under-21 championship,[7] and was awarded a Main Tour concession by the WPBSA, which enabled him to turn professional in September 2003.[7] In 2003, he became the number one ranked player in China.[8]
2004–2006
In February 2004, Ding was awarded a wildcard entry to the Masters in London, where, in the first round, he defeated the then world no. 16-ranked player, Joe Perry,[9] before narrowly losing 6–5 in the second round to experienced top player Stephen Lee after holding a 2–5 lead over him.[10] His performance favourably impressed many commentators, who since then rated him a likely future World Champion.
In March 2005, he celebrated his 18th birthday by reaching the final of the China Open in Beijing, along the way defeating world top-16 ranked players Peter Ebdon, Marco Fu and Ken Doherty. In that final he played against then world no.-3-ranked Stephen Hendry, whom he beat by 9 frames to 5, to score his first ranking tournament win. 110 million people watched the final against Hendry on China's national sports channel CCTV-5 – by far the biggest TV audience ever recorded for a snooker match.[11]
In December 2005, he beat another crop of world top-16 players, namely Jimmy White, the late Paul Hunter and Joe Perry once more on his way to reaching the final of another major tournament, the UK Championship at the Barbican Centre in York. This time he met the resurgent snooker legend Steve Davis, and defeated him by ten frames to six, in doing so becoming the first player from outside Britain or Ireland to win that particular title. Following this victory, his world ranking was provisionally raised from 60 (62 at the start of the season) to 31. At the end of the season, he was ranked 27th.
In the 2006 China Open he gave his home crowd a good run for their money, but lost 6–2 to eventual winner Mark Williams in the semi-finals.
On 19 August 2006, he beat Stephen Lee 6–1, and reached the final of the Northern Ireland Trophy, meeting Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final the following day. He beat O'Sullivan 9–6 to claim his third ranking tournament win,[12] becoming only the third person ever to do so before his twentieth birthday,[12] after O'Sullivan and John Higgins.[12] This win pushed his provisional world ranking position up to fifth.
In December 2006, he won three gold medals at the Asian Games, winning the Single, Double and Team Snooker competitions. The following week, he reached, as the defending champion, the quarterfinal stage of the 2006 UK Snooker Championship,[13] and subsequently lost to his practice partner and eventual winner, Peter Ebdon, by 9 frames to 5.[13]
2007/2008
On 1 January 2007, he narrowly defeated Cao Xinlong 5–4 to reach the final of the Chinese National Snooker Championship in East China's Yixing, Jiangsu province, his home town. The following day, he beat Xiao Guodong in the final by 6 frames to 2, in doing so becoming the national champion once again.[14]
On 14 January 2007, Ding made a 147 break in the opening match of the Saga Insurance Masters against Anthony Hamilton.[15] It was the first maximum in the competition since that of Kirk Stevens in 1984, which was also the only one up to then.[15] Additionally, Ding is the youngest player to make a 147 during a televised session (a record previously held by Ronnie O'Sullivan),[15] and became the first Chinese snooker player in the history of BBC's coverage to make a televised maximum.
He went on to make the final of the tournament,[16] becoming the second youngest player to reach a Masters final. In it he made a confident start by winning the first two frames. However, O'Sullivan went on to produce what many regard as one of the finest displays of snooker ever seen on television. His dominance, along with the boisterous and hostile nature of the crowd, left Ding in tears during the twelfth frame, trailing 8–3 in the best of 19 frames contest. The latter appeared resigned to defeat, taking little time to consider his shot selection, and after the frame shook hands with O'Sullivan, after which the two walked arm in arm to the dressing room area, but because it had only been the last frame before the mid-session interval, and so indeed not the very last frame of the match, no-one knew if he had conceded the match, believed the match was over or was just congratulating O'Sullivan on his formidable play. He ultimately lost the match on the next frame, and later claimed that he thought the match was indeed a "best of 17".[17]
He was next bumped out of two tournaments in a row in the first rounds, losing 5–2 to Stephen Maguire in the Malta Cup[18] and 5–1 to Jamie Cope in the Welsh Open.[19] By 14 March 2007, however, Ding had qualified for the televised final stages of the World Championships for the first time by beating Mark Davis in the final qualifying round.[20] However, his losing streak in ranking tournaments that season continued with a 5–3 first round loss to Barry Hawkins in the China Open and a 10–2 loss against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the World Snooker Championship, but he still ended the season ranked in ninth place, his highest ever ranking.
The following season was consistent, reaching the last 16 of all but one ranking event, but he failed to reach a single semi-final, causing him to slip down two places, to number 11 in the world rankings. At the Crucible he managed to reach the second round for the first time, beating Marco Fu 10–9 in a high quality match, but he was unable to progress further, going down 13–7 to Stephen Hendry.
However, he started the next season on a high by winning the Jiangsu Classic, beating Mark Selby 6–5 in the final.
On 16 December, in his Second Round match against John Higgins at the UK Championship, Ding scored a maximum 147 break in the third frame of the match.[21]
Currently, Ding Junhui holds the record for the most unanswered points (495) in any snooker tournament. This was during the Premier League Snooker against Stephen Hendry.[22]
2009/2010
Ding started the 2009/10 season well. He reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters, and the final of the Grand Prix at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, where he defeated Matthew Stevens 5–4 in the first round, Stephen Maguire 5–1 in the second round, Peter Ebdon 5–2 in the quarter-finals and Mark Williams 6–1 in the semi-finals. He lost to Neil Robertson 9–4 in the final.[23]
Ding reached the final of the 2009 UK Championship after defeating Mike Dunn (9–5), Shaun Murphy (9–3), Ali Carter (9–8), and Stephen Maguire (9–5).[24] He went on to defeat John Higgins in the final (10–8) to claim his second UK crown.[25]
After losing his next two matches against Mark Selby (1–6) at the Masters and Jamie Cope (3–5) at the Welsh Open, Ding found his form, scoring nine centuries on his way to the China Open final, where he lost against Mark Williams (6–10), despite leading 5–4 at the end of first session.[26] At the World Championship he defeated Stuart Pettman 10–1, but lost 10–13 against Shaun Murphy in the second round.
2010/2011
Ding started the season at the Wuxi Classic, where he lost 8–9 in the final, despite at one point leading 8–2.[27] Ding reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters and the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he lost 1–5 against Jamie Cope and 2–3 against Mark Williams respectively.[28][29] Ding failed to defend his UK Championship title, when he lost 8–9 against Mark Allen.[30]
Ding reached his second Masters Final in January 2011, after beating Jamie Cope 6–3 in the semi-final. Ding went on to win the Masters for the first time, beating Marco Fu 10–4 in the first ever all-Asian Masters final.[31][32]
Ding also had a career best run at the 2011 World Snooker Championship. He beat Jamie Burnett 10–2 in the first round, advancing to the last 16 of the World Championship for the 4th straight year.[33] Facing Stuart Bingham in the second round, he was down 9–12 at one point with the opponent needing just one frame for victory, but Ding made a comeback, winning four straight frames to win 13–12 to reach the quarter-finals of the world championship for the first time in his career.[34] In his quarter-final with Mark Selby, Ding led Selby 10–6 after the first two sessions of the match. Selby built strong momentum by winning the first four frames of the last session to level at 10–10, but Ding eventually held on to win 13–10 to set up a semi-final against Judd Trump.[35] In their semi-final, Ding and Trump were level at 12–12 after the third session. In the last session, Trump was the first to build momentum and led 14–12, but Ding pinched the next three frames with a 138 break to tie Mark King for highest tournament break and a 119 break. Ding lost the next three frames to lose the match by a 15–17 scoreline.[36]
2011/2012
Ding started the season at the Wuxi Classic, where he lost 5–6 against Mark Selby in the semi-finals,[37] and for the first time couldn't reach the final of the tournament.[38] At the World Cup Ding and Liang Wenbo partnered up to represent China. They won the final, 4–2 against the Northern Ireland.[39] He then lost in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open 2–5 against Stuart Bingham.[40] At the second event of the Players Tour Championship Ding reached the final, but lost 0–4 against Judd Trump.[41]
Achievements
Ding Junhui has compiled more than 200 competitive century breaks.[3] He has made two 147 maximum breaks in professional competition. The first at the 2007 Masters, which made him the youngest player to have made a televised 147 at the age of 19 years and 7 months. The second came at the 2008 UK Championship.
In popular culture
A 26-episode cartoon series Dragon Ball No.1 by Beijing-based D5 Studio, based on Ding's growth from a shy boy to a snooker star, was broadcast on TV in 2010.[42]
Performance and rankings timeline
Tournaments 2003/
042004/
052005/
062006/
072007/
082008/
092009/
102010/
112011/
12Rankings UR[nb 1] 76 62 27 9 11 13 5 4 Ranking tournaments Australian Goldfields Open Not Held 1R Shanghai Masters Not Held 2R 1R QF 2R 1R World Open[nb 2] LQ LQ LQ RR RR QF F QF UK Championship LQ 1R W QF QF 2R W 2R German Masters Not Held QF Welsh Open LQ 1R LQ 1R 3R 2R 1R QF China Open NH W SF 1R 2R 1R F SF World Championship LQ LQ LQ 1R 2R 2R 2R SF Non-Ranking Tournaments The Masters 1R QF A F QF QF 1R W Premier League Snooker A A SF RR SF RR A RR Former Ranking Tournaments Players Championship 2R Not Held British Open LQ 3R Not Held Irish Masters LQ LQ NH NR Not Held Malta Cup[nb 3] LQ LQ LQ 1R NR Not Held Northern Ireland Trophy Not Held NR W 3R 2R Not Held Performance Table Legend LQ lost in qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF advanced to but not past the quarterfinals SF advanced to but not past the semifinals F advanced to the final, tournament runner-up W won the tournament DQ disqualified from the tournament A did not participate in 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. - ^ New players on the tour does not have a rankings.
- ^ The event run under different name as LG Cup (2003/2004) and Grand Prix (2004/2005-2009/2010)
- ^ The event run under different name as European Open (2001/2002-2003/2004)
Career finals
Ranking event finals: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Categories:- Top 16 snooker players
- 1987 births
- People from Wuxi
- Living people
- Chinese snooker players
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