Ding Junhui:Prodigy to Master

On September 26， 2016， 29-year-old Ding Junhui won the Snooker Shanghai Masters for the second time by beating Mark Selby 10-6. Previously winning the event in 2013， Ding became the first-ever player to take the Shanghai Masters twice.

The title was Ding’s first in 30 months and 12th of his professional career. The victory also brought him even with Australian Neil Robertson in total tournament wins. Only five players in the history of the sport have won more.

Snooker Prodigy

At the 2005 China Open， a young Chinese boy surprised the snooker world by beating legendary seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in the final. Because of the 18-year-old rookie Ding Junhui， an estimated 120 million Chinese people， as many as the combined population of the U.K. and France， watched the game on TV. The teenager continued to shake up the sport later that year by defeating Steve Davis to win the U.K. Championship and become the first player from outside the U.K. to win the tournament. In many ways， Ding was an overnight sensation for the Chinese public.

For a long time， media outlets from both China and beyond used “prodigy” to describe Ding. Born in Yixing， a small city in Jiangsu Province， in 1987， Ding’s unusual snooker gift was discovered by his billiards-obsessed father when the boy was only eight. Some media outlets recounted a story of his father leaving a game with friends to use the restroom， and his son running the table before he returned.

Soon， no one in his hometown could even compete with Ding. Realizing that their child would benefit greatly from systematic billiards training， Ding’s parents took the boy to Dongguan， Guangdong Province， where China’s national snooker team trains. To pay for Ding’s training in Guangdong， the family eventually sold their home in Yixing. “They didn’t tell me they were selling the house at the time， so I didn’t feel the pressure，” Ding revealed.“But playing with the outstanding players in Guangdong helped me greatly. My skills progressed rapidly.”

At 13， Ding won his first award by finishing third in an Asian Invitational Tournament. In 2002， he amazed the snooker world by winning both the Asian under-21 and senior titles and the World Under-21 Championship in Latvia. By the age of 15， Ding had been already unbeatable in China， winning various national and regional snooker youth championships and making waves on the Asian circuit.

Before Ding’s major victories at the China Open and U.K. Championship in 2005， plenty of insiders had already noticed the emerging star.

Mature Pro

After his rapid improvement and outstanding performance， Ding turned professional in 2003. The same year， the 16-year-old set off for Wellingborough， U.K.

Understandably， Ding had a hard time at first. He slept in a small bedroom in a modest flat and practiced seven or eight hours a day thanks to a lack of friends and family. “I was scared，” he recalled. “Nobody came to the U.K. with me. I was so far from home， and I didn’t speak English.” Ding endured long stretches of loneliness and benefited greatly from the more systematic training in the U.K.， which led directly to his first major professional successes in 2005.

However， as his progress continued， Ding felt pressure piling up. “In China， people don’t just ‘want’ me to win， they ‘believe’ I will，” he continued. “But I am just human. The pressure becomes huge.” Professional players have ups and downs， and they need the ability to climb up from low points. But for a long time， questions surrounding Ding’s ability to control his temper and emotions remained. For a while， insiders even suggested that compared to his perfect mechanics， Ding’s psychological shortcomings would relegate him below top tier.

Several situations contributed to this theory. In 2007， when Ding was defeated by Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Masters final， he was in tears before the match was over. From 2007 to 2010， he failed to get past the second round of the World Championship in Sheffield. “I even broke my cue，” Ding admitted， “and I complained about the table when I lost.”

Luckily， Ding and his team began to place more attention on the problem in recent years. “I believe Ding’s poor control of his temper is caused by a sense of insecurity，” remarked Ren Haojiang， a snooker promoter and close friend of Ding. “Traveling around to play since a young age has damaged his sense of security. For a young kid， losses result in lost confidence. But as time goes on， Ding has become a more mature and tougher player.”

In the modern sports world， individual players are seldom able to dominate for extended periods of time. However， iconic figures are always helpful in promoting marginalized sports to new audiences. After years of effort and hard work， not to mention mental maturity， Ding is well positioned to serve as such a role.

Rise of Chinese Players

Throughout his career， Ding has always been watched closely in his home country， where more people play pool than in the rest of the world combined. With Ding’s rise on the international stage， many believe that China may see more “quality” participation in the snooker world.

China is certainly a huge market for the game. An estimated 50 million people in the country play， and snooker clubs have mushroomed in recent years. Shanghai alone had about 1，500 snooker clubs in 2015， soaring from 200 in 2008. With snooker’s increasing popularity in the country， many major tournaments are now broadcast live in China， with an average audience of 79 million. Major competitions featuring Ding easily attract more than 100 million viewers.

According to the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association（CBSA）， many young talented players could soon join Ding on the world stage. CBSA believes that although Ding was a lone wolf when he caused the first wave of development more than a decade ago， the second wave is represented by millennials such as Xiao Guodong， Liang Wenbo and Cao Yupeng， and the third is led by teenagers such as Yuan Sijun and Zhou Yuelong.

With the huge number of highly skilled Chinese players emerging， even World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn once remarked during an interview that soon half of the world’s top 16 players could be Chinese.

While Ding’s rise a decade ago successfully changed the image of snooker in China， which was once considered for dropouts and the unemployed， the country is now eyeing something bigger for the game.