Table of Contents
Is Ding Junhui Asia’s most successful snooker player?
Many consider Ding Junhui to be the greatest successful Asian snooker player of all time. He is well-known in his native China and has been the country’s snooker champion. As an outsider, he has impressed both native players and spectators in the United Kingdom.
Ding is often regarded as the best Asian player in the world’s top leagues.
Junhui has defeated the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, widely regarded as the best snooker player of all time, Peter Ebdon, Stephen Hendry, and many more.
Ding Junhui | Childhood and Early Career
Ding Junhui () was born on April 1, 1987, in Yixing, Wuxi, China.
As far as we know, he was the sole son of his father, Chen Xijuan, and his mother, Ding Wenjun.
Junhui was exposed to the world of snooker by his father, who was a snooker aficionado when he was just eight years old.
His father would take Ding to the local pool hall, where he would practice and play with a professional.
When his father was engaged with other things one day, Ding seized the opportunity to play against the professional; when his father returned, Ding had already won the game.
That was the moment his parents learned their son was a snooker prodigy.
After that, his parents totally supported him in his quest to become a snooker player.
Ding’s father took him to Shanghai’s Chinese national snooker team when he was nine years old.
Because they were not financially secure, his father convinced his mother to sell their grocery and home business.
Following Ding’s snooker career, the family relocated to Dongguan, Guangdong, where Ding postponed his formal education to concentrate on snooker.
He was 11 years old at the time and used to train for eight hours a day.
All of his hard work paid off when he got called up to the big leagues.
Ding had won regional and national contests by the age of 15, establishing himself as one of China’s greatest players.
Ding Junhui | Husband and Children
Outside of his professional snooker career, Ding Junhui keeps a lot to himself.
He is a very private individual. However, he just traveled to China with his wife and daughter to attend an event.
Everyone was moved by his daughter’s lovely appearance.
Everyone commented on how adorable she is and how well Ding and his wife, Apple Zhang, looked together.
On August 8, 2018, the couple’s first child/daughter was born.
Ding must spend the majority of his time away from his family, attending matches.
He has frequently stated that he misses his young daughter and his wife.
Ding and Apple married in 2014.
He hasn’t revealed anything else about his family.
Ding Junhui | Work
He won both the Asian Under-21 Championship and the Asian Championship in 2002 when he was only 15 years old.
He also won the IBSF World Under-21 Championship the same year, becoming him the youngest snooker player ever to do it at the age of 15.
He began his professional snooker career a year later, in 2003.
However, it wasn’t until 2005 that he won his first professional snooker title.
Ding Junhui also won the China Open and the UK Championship in 2005.
Winning one of the triple crowns (the UK Championship) at the age of 18 is not a feat that many people can boast about.
Ding was just a year away from being the UK Championship’s youngest winner; Ronnie O’Sullivan, at 17, held the record.
In addition, he won the Northern Ireland Trophy in 2006, bringing his overall title tally to three, making him the second player in history to win three ranking titles before reaching 20.
John Higgins is the only other player to have accomplished this feat.
Junhui enrolled in Shanghai Jiao Tong University the next year to study Business Administration and Management.
Ding Junhui had a fantastic year after winning the Northern Ireland Trophy in 2006, but his winning streak came to a stop when he played Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2007.
Ding faced Ronnie The Magician in the 2007 Masters finals.
Ding suffered a heartbreaking defeat as Ronnie defeated him 10-3.
Following the 2007 Masters defeat
But that didn’t stop the east coast’s biggest player from continuing to play and winning 14 major titles in his career.
The most recent ranking title he won was the 2019 UK Championship, where he defeated Stephen Maguire 10-6.
Ding was the only Asian player to reach the World Championship finals in 2016, where he faced off against Mark Selby.
Mark won the championship with a 14-18 score.
Ding is also recognized for this break; he has 6 maximum possible breaks (147) and almost 400-century breaks to his name.
From December 2014 to February 2015, he was the world’s number one snooker player.
He is also the only Asian to hold the top spot.
During the 2007/2008/2009 season,
Ding Junhui won the Chinese National Championship in Yixing, his birthplace. With a one-point lead, he defeated Cao Xinlong 5-4.
Ding made his first maximum break (147) against Anthony Hamilton in the 2007 Masters
It was also the competition’s first maximum break since 1984.
With the 147-point break, he became the youngest player in history to make a televised maximum break.
He was the second-youngest player following his appearance in the Master’s finals that year.
Though he won the opening two frames, it was all downhill from there. Ronnie won the match by dominating Ding.
During a match, Junhui is in a serious mood.
The match was the best of 19 frames, however, Ding relinquished it in the 12th round with an 8-3 score, believing it was the best of 17.
He left the table in tears during the 12th round, believing he had lost, but he still had a chance because it was a 19-frame match, not a 17-frame match as he had assumed.
That was a blunder that cost him the title of Master.
After losing in the Master, he was eliminated in the first round of his following two ranking competitions.
The Chinese-born player was defeated in the first round of the Malta Cup by Stephen Maguire.
Similarly, he was eliminated in the first round of the Welsh Open by Jamie Cope.
After all of those defeats, he began his 2008/09 season with a bang, winning the Jiangsu Classic against Mark Selby by a score of 6-5.
Net Worth of Ding Junhui
Ding Junhui has won about $5 million in total, including all major tournaments.
His overall net worth is estimated to be approximately $10 million by our analysts.
Aside from his significant tournament profits, he also makes a lot of money in minor leagues, and don’t forget that he is the leader in Chinese snooker.
Despite having spent his entire life devoted to snooker, he is not a moron.
He has made some wise decisions and invested his earnings to provide a brighter future for his family.
Ding faced a fellow Chinese snooker player in the final of the Shangai Masters in September 2013, marking the first time in the league’s history that both finalists were Chinese.
In the finals, Ding played Xiao Guodong; Ding dominated the match, making a century break and seven breaks worth more than 50 points each.
He won the finals 10-6, earning his seventh ranking title.
In the same year, he competed in the Indian Open, losing in the finals against Aditya Mehta.
Needless to say, he won that as well.
Since Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2003, no one had won back-to-back ranking titles as Ding did in 2013.
Ding was on a roll; he was on the hunt for opponents to defeat.
He competed in the 2013 International Championship after winning the Indian Open.
He advanced to the tournament’s finals, where he faced another Chinese snooker player.
This was his second meeting in a ranking title final with a Chinese player, Marco Fu.
Ding had no sympathy for his fellow Chineseman, going on to set five-century records.
The two enjoyed a heated battle, and despite Ding having a little advantage, Fu managed to take the match to the final two frames.
Ding won the match with a 10-9 score, becoming the first player since Stephin Hendry in 1990 to win three straight ranking titles.
He got promoted to the third level for the first time in his pro snooker career after winning three consecutive important titles.
World Championship Finalist in 2016 and previous losses
Ding had a string of defeats before joining the World Championship event.
He was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Shangai Masters by Kyren Wilson.
Similarly, he was eliminated in the second round of the 2015 International Championship by amateur player Adam Duffy.
He was obviously enraged and lambasted the playing conditions at the York Barbican.
Furthermore, he lost the 2015 UK Championship in the first round to (again) amateur snooker player Adam Duffy.
Consider a complete amateur defeating the world’s top 9th-ranked players.
The same thing happened once again.
Ding was knocked out of the German Master in the first round, but his opponent was not Adam, but Stuart Bingham.
In 2016, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the BetVictor Welsh Open by Neil Robertson.
During the match, he made his sixth career maximum break and a 120, but he couldn’t overcome Neil’s dominance.
Furthermore, he reached the semifinals of the 2016 Ladbrokes World Grand Prix, overcoming the likes of Peter Ebdon, Ben Woollaston, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh before losing to Shaun Murphy.
In the 2016 Ladbrokes Players Tour Championship quarter-final, he lost 4-2 to Barry Hawkins.
Furthermore, he failed to qualify for the 2016 China Open, falling to Lee Walker (5-1).
Finalist in the World Championship
He hadn’t won a championship in two seasons and had to qualify for the World Championship.
Ding accomplished this by winning three consecutive matches while dropping only seven frames.
During his three consecutive victories, he also made the 400th century break.
Ding overcame Martin Gould (10-8) in the first round, Judd Trump (13-10) in the second, Mark Williams (13-3) in the quarters, and Alan McManus (13-3) in the semi-finals (17-11).
He made the most century breaks in World Championship history during his semi-final match against Alan, however, he shares the record with Stephen Hendry and Judd Trump.
Ding lost the finals to Mark Selby (14-18), but he became the first Asian player to reach the World Championship finals.
Furthermore, Ding made 15-century breaks during the 2016 World Championship, one short of Stephen Hendry’s all-time record.
Ding Junhui Trivia
Ding Junhui Trivia Junhui trains at Sheffield’s World Snooker Academy.
Ding is the first player from outside the United Kingdom to win the UK Championship.
He is China’s most successful snooker player and only the second adolescent to win three titles; the first being John Higgins.
He is close friends with Wenbo Liang, and they both train at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.
Dragon Ball No.1 is a cartoon series that follows Ding’s journey from shy little boy to confident pro snooker champion.
The series had 26 episodes and was broadcast on Chinese television in 2010.
He is a member of the World Taiwan Federation of Fame Hall of Fame.
Also, read Giancarlo Stanton, Matthew Christopher Schnell, John Daly’s Married Life:
Links to Social Media
He does not have a large worldwide following, but his fans on Chinese social media applications dwarf his Instagram following.
He typically publishes images of his gorgeous daughter and his daily life on Instagram.
20.4k followers on Instagram
