Ding Junhui, also known as Enter the Dragon, is one of the most successful snooker players in the world. He has won 14 major tournaments over his career. He also reached the finals of the World Championship twice. He is considered to be one of the most successful Asian players in history.
Chinese pro snooker players were introduced to the game by their father, who was a keen snooker enthusiast. As a kid, he went to Shanghai's national snooker team and has been a major success there.
Ding was the youngest player to achieve a televised break of 147 in history in 2007. He also won the IBSF World Under-21 Championship in the same year. He was awarded his first professional title. At the end of the 2006-07 seasons, he was ranked number nine in the world.
Ding has won a total fourteen major ranking titles over the course of his career. He is also the three-time UK Champion. Ding began playing professionally at sixteen years old and has recorded more than 500 century breaks during his entire career. However, his absences in recent years have had a negative impact on his match sharpness. Ding enjoys a huge following on social media in China despite this.
Ding, then 18, reached the finals of the China Open. He was the first non-Irish player to win a ranking title. He also beat Marco Fu to win the first all-Asian final.
Ding's status as the top ranked snooker player has been lost despite the success of his country. His career has taken a downward turn in the past six years. Currently, he is ranked ninth in the world. He has not participated in any major ranking events since 2017.
But, the 34 year-old has a strong resume. He has won nearly $5 million in major tournaments. He won five ranking event tournaments during 2013-14, and reached the semifinals the Ladbrokes World Grand Prix. However, he lost to Barry Hawkins (and Shaun Murphy) in the quarter-finals.
He has won ten matches this season and had ten century records. Ding also reached the semifinals at the Ladbrokes Players Tour Championship. Therefore, it is probable that Ding will return to January's World Championship.
In addition, he has managed to beat the world top 16 players. He defeated Joe Perry (Mark Williams), James Cahill (James Cahill), and Thepchaiya U-Nooh. In the semifinals of the Shangai Masters, he scored seven centuries.
At just 18 years old, he won a Chinese National Championship. In addition to becoming the youngest player to accumulate six maximum breaks, he also became the youngest ever to win the Chinese National Championship. He rose seven spots in his ranking to become the ninth best snooker player on the planet.
Before that, Ding remained in the top 16 of the rankings. He fell out of the top 16 eventually. Ding was a fixture of the Asian snooker scene throughout his entire career.