Ding Junhui of China competes during the 1st round match against Kyren Wilson of England at the World Snooker Championships 2022 in Sheffield, Britain, April 20, 2022. (Photo by Zhai Zheng/Xinhua)
Ding Junhui, the most prolific Chinese snooker player, fails to reach the last 16 at the World Snooker Championship as he loses to Kyren Wilson 10-8 in the opening round of the World Snooker Championships 2022.
LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Former world number one Ding Junhui of China failed to reach the last 16 at the World Snooker Championship as he lost to Kyren Wilson 10-8 in the opening round on Thursday.
Ding, the most prolific Chinese snooker player with 14 ranking titles, suffered a setback this season as his world ranking has slipped to 29.
The 35-year-old ace managed to grab a berth in the final stages at the World Championship through qualification and took a 3-0 lead against Wilson while facing the world number five in the first round.
Wilson fought back hard to level with Ding from 3-3 to 8-8, then the 30-year-old took the following two frames to set up a clash with Stuart Bingham.
"It was awesome. I loved every minute of it," Wilson was quoted by the World Snooker Tour website. "When you're both scoring well and feeding off each other, it's going to produce good snooker. I felt like it was fast, attacking, flowing - a great match."
Ding, whose best result at the World Championship was runner-up in 2016, said he was not disappointed. "I'm going to stick with my family; it's easy to become a robot, doing the same things all the time. I've now got more time to be myself."
Ding's compatriots Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao both won the first-round matches in the year-ending tournament.
The 22-year-old Yan Bingtao will face defending champion Mark Selby in the second round while the 25-year-old Zhao is going to meet Stephen Maguire next. ■