Latest news with #DingJunhui
Wales Online
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
'I don't' – Ken Doherty disagrees with Stephen Hendry's comments about Ding Junhui
'I don't' – Ken Doherty disagrees with Stephen Hendry's comments about Ding Junhui Ken Doherty is at odds with old rival Stephen Hendry over how Ding Junhui will be feeling about Zhao Xintong becoming the first world snooker champion from China Ding Junhui had been widely tipped to be China's first world champion (Image:) Ken Doherty has dismissed Stephen Hendry's theory that Ding Junhui will be jealous that Zhao Xintong has become China's first world snooker champion. Ding has been China's standard-setter for almost two decades and was widely expected to be the first world champion from the snooker-mad country. Despite winning the sport's two other Triple Crown titles, the Masters and the UK Championship, Ding, 38, hasn't managed to win the top prize, which has now gone to Zhao, who defeated Mark Williams 18-12 in the final, having started out in the first round of qualifying. While Zhao is a former UK champion himself, he had to start again after serving a 20-month ban for his part in the match-fixing scandal that saw nine other Chinese players punished. Seven are still serving suspensions, including two who were given lifetime bans. Following Zhao's historic Crucible triumph, seven-time world champion Hendry said Ding would be 'fuming'. But Doherty, who beat Hendry in 1997 to win his only world title, does not subscribe to that theory, although he accepts Ding may feel a little envious. Talking to , the Irishman said: 'I don't think he [Ding Junhui] will be jealous. I think he might be slightly envious. Ding was sort of the godfather of Chinese snooker. 'He was the pioneer. He showed the way for a lot of the young guys, including Xintong. And he would have helped him. Article continues below Zhao Xintong is now the top man in Chinese snooker after winning the World Championship (Image: Getty ) 'He set up an academy here in Sheffield with 18 snooker tables. Five or six of the lads who qualified for the World Championship play in his club. So he sort of opened his arms. And then there's another academy [Victoria's], where Xintong and Si Jiahui play. 'He might be a little bit envious, that's understandable. He started the whole revolution of Chinese snooker, and I think in a way he'll be somewhat satisfied that eventually they have a world champion now.' Hendry would feel aggrieved if he were in Ding's shoes. Speaking on the Snooker Club podcast after the final, the Scot said: 'It'll be really interesting to see what Ding's thinking. Stephen Hendry doesn't think Ding Junhui will be happy (Image: Getty Images ) 'He's been the benchmark for Chinese snooker. He will be fuming. If it was me, I'd be fuming. The fact is that Ding is snooker in China. Overnight, he is not Mr Snooker anymore. Article continues below 'It might spur him on, who knows, but it's something that's going to be difficult for him to handle, actually. If it was me, I'm Ding Junhui, I'm not happy tonight. I don't know Ding well, maybe he's close to Zhao and he's delighted for him.'
Daily Record
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Zhao Xintong winning World Snooker Championship has rival 'fuming' as Stephen Hendry floats jealousy theory
Hendry isn't sure how Ding Junhui will cope with his compatriot becoming first Asian player to win the world title after betting ban Stephen Hendry reckons Ding Junhui will be "fuming" after Zhaoi Xintong pipped him to a major snooker milestone. The Chinese star became the first Asian player to win the World Championship after beating Welsh favourite Mark Williams 18-12 at the Crucible this week. Xintong, who served a 20 month suspension for gambling offences, was a qualifier for the tournament and went all the way, knocking Ronnie O'Sullivan out in the semis before his final triumph. And seven-time word champ Hendry doesn't think that will have gone down well with Ding, who lost in his only final appearance nine years ago is no longer the only face of the sport in China now. "It'll be really interesting to see what Ding's thinking," the Scot told the Snooker Club podcast. "He's been the benchmark for Chinese snooker. He will be fuming. If it was me I'd be fuming. "The fact is that Ding is snooker in China, Ding Junhui is snooker. Overnight he is not Mr Snooker anymore. It might spur him on, who knows, but it's something that's going to be difficult for him to handle, actually. "If it was me, I'm Ding Junhui, I'm not happy tonight. I don't know Ding well, maybe he's close to Zhao and he's delighted for him. "But if it was me I'm thinking: 'I'm not happy that I've had so many years to do it, I haven't managed to do it, this guy's come along after being out of the game for two years and just done it, qualified and done it.' He's now the man in China. "There's a huge exhibition circuit, huge invitational tournament circuit apart from the ranking tournaments. Ding has to be there, Ding has to be involved, Ding is often one of the co-promoters and it's all about Ding. It's not going to be like that." You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
World champ Zhao Xintong says Hong Kong snooker players should move to UK to succeed
Zhao Xintong has said Hong Kong's snooker hopefuls needed to live and train in the United Kingdom if they wanted to follow in his footsteps and one day become world champion. Advertisement The first Asian to win the world title, the 28-year-old believed moving from Shenzhen to Sheffield at 17 to pursue his dream of being a professional had been key to his historic victory. Zhao, who spent three years washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant as he honed his craft, practises at Victoria's Snooker Academy, which cultivated current world No 15 Sun Jiahui and former No 10 Zhang Anda. The facility is a 10-minute walk from Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, where Zhao became China's newest sporting star. It is a road well travelled. Ding Junhui, the first Asian player to reach the final of the world championships in 2016, is also based there and opened his own snooker academy in the city, which boasts graduates Xiao Guodong, Tian Pengfei and Zhou Yuelong. Advertisement Hong Kong's players, meanwhile, tend to base themselves at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), which pays 24 billiards players a monthly elite level allowance, ranging from HK$12,480 to HK$54,150, depending on performance.
News.com.au
09-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Zhao's historic snooker title sparks talk of China world domination
Zhao Xintong's historic World Snooker Championship title is set to spur the game to even greater heights in China and sparked predictions the country could come to dominate the sport. The 28-year-old left-hander beat Mark Williams at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on Monday to become the first Asian to clinch snooker's biggest prize. Zhao celebrated by draping the Chinese flag over his shoulders and back home he has been hailed as a national hero, his victory going viral on social media in the country. His 20-month suspension in 2023 for his minor involvement in a betting scandal, with nine other Chinese snooker players also banned, has been largely forgiven. "My phone hasn't stopped ringing with calls from media and parents," Zhang Dongtao, head coach at the Beijing-based World Snooker Academy -- which has trained most of China's stars, including Zhao -- told AFP. Snooker was long characterised in China by dingy halls filled with smoke and considered a pastime for idle drifters, loathed by parents as a waste of time compared to school studies. But the sport has boomed since an 18-year-old Ding Junhui burst onto the scene two decades ago, defeating Stephen Hendry to win the China Open. Many professional Chinese players, including Zhao, cite Ding as inspiring them to take up the sport. Chinese make up ten of the top 32 players in the world and China boasts more than 300,000 snooker or billiards clubs, up from 34,000 in 2005, state media says. An industry report by Shangqi Consulting valued the country's billiards market, which includes snooker, at 37 billion yuan ($5 billion) in 2023 -- and predicted that could double over the next few years. - 'Incredible work ethic' - At the World Snooker Academy in Beijing a replica of the Masters trophy, another of snooker's most coveted prizes, sits on display as inspiration. "Our entire focus is on youth training to help them get rid of bad habits in life and in their snooker technique, and to absorb positive influences during their developmental years," the head coach Zhang said. Competition is key to training, with the academy holding six internal tournaments each semester. While snooker still lacks the prestige in China of Olympic events like table tennis and badminton, there has been a "dramatic shift" in attitudes in the last two decades, Zhang said. "The Chinese market is huge. Investors are abundant, they can sponsor some tournaments, and the prize money for competitions is very high." With qualifying events for snooker's major tournaments almost all held in Britain, Chinese players typically head overseas once they turn professional. Many end up in Sheffield in the north of England, some arriving as young as 17 to chase their snooker dreams. Zhao trains at the China-run Victoria Snooker Academy, just a short walk from the Crucible. "The Chinese players' work ethic is just incredible," Lucky Vatnani, manager of the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy, also in Sheffield, told AFP. "They play seven days a week, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. I don't see a lot of English players doing that." "Their only purpose is to play snooker," he added of the Chinese players. - 'World class' - At the basement Zhangqing Billiards Club in the capital, 43-year-old fan Xiong Jian points to a photo of a young Zhao Xintong taken after his victory in a youth tournament over a decade ago. The young champion's image hangs on the wall alongside photos of Ding and world stars such as Ronnie O'Sullivan, whom Zhao defeated in the semi-finals of the tournament in Sheffield. Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan has warned that emerging talent in Britain is "thin on the ground", particularly in comparison to China -- which he said was "churning out champions" thanks to funding from the Beijing government. The fan and casual player Xiong said China's vast population of 1.4 billion meant "there will always be families willing to support their children on the snooker path". He added: "The current environment is worlds apart from the 1990s or early 2000s." Between frames at the same snooker club, Zhu Guangqi believes Zhao's Crucible triumph will have "a profound influence on the development of the sport in China". He says Chinese players will dominate snooker within three to five years. "Chinese players have world-class competitive ability," he said proudly.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Zhao's historic snooker title sparks talk of China world domination
Zhao Xintong's historic World Snooker Championship title is set to spur the game to even greater heights in China and sparked predictions the country could come to dominate the sport. The 28-year-old left-hander beat Mark Williams at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre on Monday to become the first Asian to clinch snooker's biggest prize. Zhao celebrated by draping the Chinese flag over his shoulders and back home he has been hailed as a national hero, his victory going viral on social media in the country. His 20-month suspension in 2023 for his minor involvement in a betting scandal, with nine other Chinese snooker players also banned, has been largely forgiven. "My phone hasn't stopped ringing with calls from media and parents," Zhang Dongtao, head coach at the Beijing-based World Snooker Academy -- which has trained most of China's stars, including Zhao -- told AFP. Snooker was long characterised in China by dingy halls filled with smoke and considered a pastime for idle drifters, loathed by parents as a waste of time compared to school studies. But the sport has boomed since an 18-year-old Ding Junhui burst onto the scene two decades ago, defeating Stephen Hendry to win the China Open. Many professional Chinese players, including Zhao, cite Ding as inspiring them to take up the sport. Chinese make up ten of the top 32 players in the world and China boasts more than 300,000 snooker or billiards clubs, up from 34,000 in 2005, state media says. An industry report by Shangqi Consulting valued the country's billiards market, which includes snooker, at 37 billion yuan ($5 billion) in 2023 -- and predicted that could double over the next few years. - 'Incredible work ethic' - At the World Snooker Academy in Beijing a replica of the Masters trophy, another of snooker's most coveted prizes, sits on display as inspiration. "Our entire focus is on youth training to help them get rid of bad habits in life and in their snooker technique, and to absorb positive influences during their developmental years," the head coach Zhang said. Competition is key to training, with the academy holding six internal tournaments each semester. While snooker still lacks the prestige in China of Olympic events like table tennis and badminton, there has been a "dramatic shift" in attitudes in the last two decades, Zhang said. "The Chinese market is huge. Investors are abundant, they can sponsor some tournaments, and the prize money for competitions is very high." With qualifying events for snooker's major tournaments almost all held in Britain, Chinese players typically head overseas once they turn professional. Many end up in Sheffield in the north of England, some arriving as young as 17 to chase their snooker dreams. Zhao trains at the China-run Victoria Snooker Academy, just a short walk from the Crucible. "The Chinese players' work ethic is just incredible," Lucky Vatnani, manager of the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy, also in Sheffield, told AFP. "They play seven days a week, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. I don't see a lot of English players doing that." "Their only purpose is to play snooker," he added of the Chinese players. - 'World class' - At the basement Zhangqing Billiards Club in the capital, 43-year-old fan Xiong Jian points to a photo of a young Zhao Xintong taken after his victory in a youth tournament over a decade ago. The young champion's image hangs on the wall alongside photos of Ding and world stars such as Ronnie O'Sullivan, whom Zhao defeated in the semi-finals of the tournament in Sheffield. Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan has warned that emerging talent in Britain is "thin on the ground", particularly in comparison to China -- which he said was "churning out champions" thanks to funding from the Beijing government. The fan and casual player Xiong said China's vast population of 1.4 billion meant "there will always be families willing to support their children on the snooker path". He added: "The current environment is worlds apart from the 1990s or early 2000s." Between frames at the same snooker club, Zhu Guangqi believes Zhao's Crucible triumph will have "a profound influence on the development of the sport in China". He says Chinese players will dominate snooker within three to five years. "Chinese players have world-class competitive ability," he said proudly. sam/oho/pst
