Ding Junhui


Ding Junhui is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 15 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships, and in 2014, became the first Asian world number one. He has twice reached the final of the Masters, winning once in 2011. In 2016, he became the first Asian player to reach the final of the World Championship.
Ding began playing snooker at age nine and rose to international prominence in 2002 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championship and the Asian Championship. At age 15, he became the youngest winner of the IBSF World Under-21 Championship. In 2003, Ding turned professional at the age of 16. His first major professional successes came in 2005 when he won the China Open and the UK Championship, becoming the first player from outside Great Britain and Ireland to win the title.
During his career, he has compiled 700 century breaks, including seven maximum breaks, in professional play. He is the only Asian player to be ranked world number one, which he first achieved in 2014 to become the 11th player to reach the top spot. He is a long-time resident of Sheffield, England, and owns the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy in the same city.

Early life

Ding Junhui was born on 1 April 1987, in Yixing, Jiangsu. At eight years old, Ding accompanied his father, a pool enthusiast, who wanted to practice with a local pool expert. When his father went for a toilet break, Ding took the cue and played with the professional. Ding won the game before his father returned. Since then, Ding's parents supported him in cue sports training, particularly snooker. At age nine, he was taken by his father to the training centre of the Chinese national snooker team near Shanghai and persuaded his mother to sell their home and grocery business so Ding could continue playing snooker as a career. The family moved to Dongguan, Guangdong, and Ding left formal education at age 11 to practice snooker for eight hours each day.

Career

Early career

Ding rose to international prominence in 2002 at age 15, when he won the Asian Under-21 Championship, the Asian Championship, and became the youngest ever winner of the IBSF World Under-21 Championship. He was unable to progress much in 2003 when both Asian tournaments were canceled because of the 2002–03 SARS virus outbreak, but he reached the semi-finals of the IBSF World Under-21 Championship, and the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association awarded him a concession to play on the main snooker tour, which enabled him to turn professional in September 2003. In the same year, Ding became the number-one-ranked player in China.

First UK Championship and reaching the top-16 (2004–2007)

In February 2004, Ding was awarded a wildcard entry to the Masters held in London. In the wildcard round, he beat the world number 16 player Joe Perry. In the first round, he lost 5–6 to Stephen Lee after leading 5–2. In April 2005, Ding celebrated his 18th birthday by reaching the final of the China Open in Beijing, defeating world top 16 ranked players Peter Ebdon, Marco Fu, and Ken Doherty. In the final, Ding beat the world number three Stephen Hendry by 9–5 to win his first ranking tournament. The match was watched by 110 million people on China's national sports channel CCTV-5; it was the largest television audience recorded for a snooker match. In December 2005, Ding beat Jimmy White, Paul Hunter, and Joe Perry to reach the final of the UK Championship. In the final, he beat Steve Davis by 10–6 to become the first player from outside the UK to win the tournament. Ding's provisional world ranking rose from 62 at the start of the 2005–06 season to 27 at the end of the season.
At the 2006 China Open, Ding lost 2–6 in the semi-finals to eventual winner Mark Williams. During the Northern Ireland Trophy event, he beat Stephen Lee 6–1 in the semi-finals. In the final, Ding defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–6 to win his third ranking tournament, becoming the third person under 20 to do so after O'Sullivan and John Higgins. In December 2006, Ding won three gold medals at the 2006 Asian Games, winning the single, double, and team snooker competitions. The following week, he reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 UK Championship as the defending champion, but lost 5–9 to his practice partner and eventual winner Peter Ebdon. Ding ended the 2006–07 season ranked world number nine, which was his first top-ten placement.

Youngest maximum break and wildcard Masters finalist (2007–2009)

In January 2007, Ding defeated Cao Xinlong 5–4 to reach the final of the Chinese National Championship in his home town of Yixing, Jiangsu. He defeated Xiao Guodong in the final by 6–2 to become the national champion again. On 14 January, Ding made a 147 break in his first-round match against Anthony Hamilton at the Masters, which was Ding's first maximum break and the first maximum break made at the competition since Kirk Stevens' in 1984. The break made Ding the youngest player to make a televised 147—a record previously held by Ronnie O'Sullivan—and the first Chinese player to make a televised maximum. Ding played O'Sullivan in the final, becoming the second-youngest player and the first Asian player to reach a Masters' final.
After Ding won the first two frames, O'Sullivan went on to dominate the match. This, along with the boisterous and hostile nature of the London crowd, led Ding to leave the table in tears during the twelfth frame when he was trailing 3–8 in the best-of-19-frames contest. Ding appeared resigned to defeat, taking little time to consider his shot selection, and shook hands with O'Sullivan after the frame. O'Sullivan consoled Ding and they walked arm-in-arm to the backstage area. Because it was the last frame before the mid-session interval, it was uncertain whether Ding had conceded the match. O'Sullivan won the match in the first frame after the interval; Ding later said he thought the match was a "best of 17".
Ding was defeated in the first round of the next two consecutive tournaments, losing 2–5 to Stephen Maguire in the 2007 Malta Cup and 1–5 to Jamie Cope in the Welsh Open. In March 2007, Ding qualified for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time after beating Mark Davis in the final qualifying round. His losing streak in ranking tournaments continued, with a 3–5 loss to Barry Hawkins in the first round of the China Open and a 2–10 loss against O'Sullivan at the World Championship. Despite this, Ding ended the 2006–07 season ranked world number 11.
The following season, Ding was consistent, reaching the last 16 of all-but-one ranking event. However, he failed to reach a single semi-final, causing him to drop to number 13 in the world rankings. At the 2008 World Snooker Championship, Ding reached the second round for the first time, beating Marco Fu 10–9 before losing 7–13 to Stephen Hendry. During the 2007 Premier League Snooker, Ding recorded 495 unanswered points against Stephen Hendry, setting a record for the most unanswered points in any professional snooker tournament. The record was surpassed in 2014 when Ronnie O'Sullivan recorded 556 unanswered points against Ricky Walden.
Ding started the 2008–09 season on a high, winning the Jiangsu Classic after beating Ryan Day 4–0 in the semi-final and Mark Selby 6–5 in the final. In October, he participated in the third event of the World Series of Snooker. Ding won the event after defeating Ken Doherty 6–4 in the final. In the fourth event in November, Ding defeated Mark Selby 4–2 in the semi-final, before losing 0–5 to John Higgins in the final. On 16 December, in his second-round match against John Higgins at the 2008 UK Championship, Ding scored a maximum 147 break in the third frame.

Second UK Championship (2009/2010)

Ding began the 2009/2010 season by reaching the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters. He reached the final of the Grand Prix by defeating 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, losing 4–9 to Neil Robertson in the final. At the 2009 UK Championship, Ding reached the final after defeating Mike Dunn 9–5, Shaun Murphy 9–3, Ali Carter 9–8, and Stephen Maguire 9–5. He went on to defeat John Higgins 10–8 in the final to win his second UK title.
After losing against Mark Selby 1–6 at the Masters and Jamie Cope 3–5 at the Welsh Open, Ding returned to form, scoring nine century breaks on his way to the final of the China Open. He lost 6–10 to Mark Williams despite leading 5–4 at the end of the first session. At the World Championship, Ding defeated Stuart Pettman 10–1 in the first round. He lost 10–13 against Shaun Murphy in the second round. Ding ended the season ranked world number five, an increase of eight places from the previous season.

Masters winner (2010/2011)

At the 2010 Wuxi Classic, Ding lost 8–9 in the final despite leading 8–2. Ding reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters and the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he lost 1–5 to Jamie Cope and 2–3 to Mark Williams. Ding failed to defend his 2010 UK Championship title, losing 8–9 against Mark Allen. In January 2011, Ding reached his second Masters final, beating Jamie Cope 6–3 in the semi-final. Ding won the Masters for the first time, beating Marco Fu 10–4 in the first-ever all-Chinese Masters final.
Ding 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 fourth consecutive year. He played Stuart Bingham in the second round; he was losing 9–12 with his opponent needing one frame for victory but Ding made a comeback, winning four consecutive frames to win 13–12 and reach the quarter-finals of the world championship for the first time in his career. In his quarter-final with Mark Selby, Ding led 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. Ding won the match 13–10 to set up a semi-final against Judd Trump. In their semi-final, Ding and Trump were level at 12–12 after the third session. In the last session, Trump built momentum and led 14–12 but Ding won 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 and lost the match 15–17. He ended the season with a career-high ranking of world number four.