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10 Remarkable Facts about Ding Junhui

Ding Junhui- Author; Benutzer:Bill da Flute- Wikimedia

Ding Junhui is a Chinese professional player and the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. He was born on April 1st, 1987.

1. Junhui has won 14 major ranking titles in his career 

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Throughout his career, Ding Junhui has won 14 major ranking titles. This includes three UK Championships for the years 2005, 2009, 2019.

He has twice reached the final of the , winning once in 2011. In 2016, he became the first Asian player to reach the final of the .

2. Ding Junhui started his career from a very young age

Photo by Carlos Magno on Unsplash

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 the age of 15, he became the youngest winner of the .

In 2003, Ding turned professional at the age of 16. His first major professional successes came in 2005 when he won the  and the UK Championship, thus,  becoming the first player from outside Great Britain and Ireland to win the title.

3. He is the only Asian to be ranked as world’s number one

Ding Junhui- Author; DerHexer- Wikimedia

During his career, Junhui has compiled more than 550 , including six , in professional play.

He is the only Asian player to be ranked world number one, which he first achieved in 2014, becoming 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.

4. Ding won the Asian under 21 championship at only 15 years old

Snooker world championship- Author; Bvayb- Wikimedia

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 however unable to progress much in 2003 when both Asian tournaments were canceled because of the

Nevertheless, he reached the semi-finals of the IBSF World Under-21 Championship, and the (WPBSA) 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.

5. Was awarded a wildcard to a professional non- ranking snooker tournament

Masters Snooker Match- Author; Bvayb- Wikimedia

In February 2004, Ding was awarded a wildcard entry to the  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 became 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 and became the first player from outside the UK to win the tournament.

Ding’s  rose from 62 at the start of the 2005–06 season to 27 at the end of the season.

6. Ding Junhui’s world ranking for the 2018/2019 season was ten

Ding Junhui- Author; DerHexer,- Wikimedia

At the , Ding defeated Luca Brecel 7–6 in the semi-final, but lost to Kyren Wilson 8–4 in the final.

At the , he won his second round match 6–3 against Mark Allen. Then he beat Mark Selby 6–5 in the quarter-final, before losing to Barry Hawkins 10–9 in the semi-final.

In January 2019, Ding participated in the Masters, beating Jack Lisowski 6–1 in the first round and Luca Brecel 6–5 in the quarter-final. He lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan 6–3 in the semi-final. 

At the , Ding defeated Fergal O’Brien 5–3 in the last 32 and Xiao Guodong 5–4 in the last 16. However, he lost to Duane Jones 5–3 in the quarter-final.

At the , Ding beat Anthony McGill 10–7 in the first round, but lost to Judd Trump 13–9 in the second round. His end-of-season  world ranking thus ended up being ten.

7. He became the third individual under 20 to win a ranking tournament

Author; Martin Rulsch- Wikimedia

At the 2006 China Open, Ding lost 6–2 in the semi-finals to eventual winner Mark Williams.

During the  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.

8. Won three gold medals at the Asian Games of 2006

In December 2006, Ding won three gold medals at the , 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 9–5 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.

9. Ding has recorded more than 500 competitive century breaks

During his professional playing career, Ding has compiled more than 500 competitive century breaks and six 147 maximum breaks in professional competition.

His first maximum break came at the 2007 Masters at the age of 19 years, making him the youngest player to have made a televised 147.

Ding’s second maximum break came at the 2008 UK Championship and his third came in the first round of the  in 2011.

Two days later, he compiled his fourth maximum in a 4–1 victory against James Cahill. The fifth maximum came in his quarter-final of the  against Mark Allen.

On 19 February 2016, he made his sixth maximum against Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open.

10. Won the 2017/2018 world cup

Author; Bvayb- Wikimedia

At the , Ding and China’s number-two player Liang Wenbo defeated the English pair Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins in a deciding frame, winning the event 4–3.

Ding led the Chinese team at the , losing 26–9 to the British team. He lost 6–1 to the captain of the British team Ronnie O’Sullivan.

He then participated in the second China Championship but was defeated 5–0 whitewash to Alan McManus in the last 32 in a rematch of the semi-finals of the 2015 World Championship.

As the defending , Ding lost 6–1 to Marco Fu in the last 16. He however  won the World Open and ended up beating Luca Brecel 6–4 in the semi-finals and Kyren Wilson 10–3 in the final.

In 2018, Ding returned to form and reached the final of the World Grand Prix, where he won a 6–5 victory over Mark Selby in the semi-final. He struggled in the final, losing to Ronnie O’Sullivan 10–3. He finished that season ranked world number six.