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 became the youngest person to record a televised 747 break. Ding won the IBSF World Under-21 Championship the following year. He won this title for the first time and was ranked nineth in the world at the conclusion of the 2006/07 season.
During his career, Ding has won a total of fourteen major ranking titles. Ding is also a former three-time UK Champion. Ding has more than 500 century break records throughout his career, having started playing professionally when he was sixteen. However, his recent absences have had an adverse impact on Ding's match sharpness. Despite this, Ding has a huge social media following in China.
At age 18, Ding reached the final of the China Open and then became the first player from outside Great Britain and Ireland 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. In the past six-years, Ding has had a career decline. He is currently ranked ninth around the globe. He hasn't played in any major ranking event since 2017.
The 34-year old has a solid resume. He has won over $5 million in major tournaments. In the 2013-14 season, he won five ranking tournaments and reached the semifinals for the Ladbrokes World Grand Prix. However, he lost to Barry Hawkins (and Shaun Murphy) in the quarter-finals.
He has won ten matches during the 2019 season and recorded ten century breaks. Moreover, Ding has reached the semifinals of the Ladbrokes Players Tour Championship. Ding is likely to return to January's World Championship.
In addition, he beat 16 of the top world players. He defeated Joe Perry. James Cahill. Thepchaiya UN-Nooh. He also made seven centuries in semi-finals at the Shangai Masters.
At the age of 18 he won the Chinese National Championship. This made him the youngest player in the World to have six maximum breaks. His ranking climbed seven places to rank him as the ninth-best snooker player worldwide.
Ding had remained in the top 16 ranks for a while before this. He fell out of the top 16 eventually. Ding was a fixture of the Asian snooker scene throughout his entire career.