From March 30th to April 5th, the World Snooker China Open will be taking place at the Peking University Gymnasium in Beijing. The last stop of the 08-09 season, the tournament will feature the top players in World Snooker Association including Chinese sensation Ding Junhui.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, who will also be in Beijing for the event and is considered the most talented player in snooker history, says about 21 year old Ding Junhui, “If he carries on improving and gets a few more bits to his game he will be a multiple World Champion.” O’Sullivan, who has 3 of those trophies himself and 21 ranking titles continues, “Tennis has Federer, golf has Woods, Ding could do the same to snooker.”

Ding has been playing since his father took him to the training center of the Chinese national team in Shanghai when he was nine. Dad talked mom into selling their house to pay for Ding’s training and 8 hours of daily practice but it seems to have paid off. In ’03 Ding became the top ranked player in China and shortly thereafter turned pro. Up to the start of this year Ding earned more than 500,000 euros worth of prize money – assumably enough to buy a new house for his mother.

Ding is considered a natural player, talented but also inconsistent and unable to keep his emotions under control. Bouts of inspired play have been intermingled with steady plodding and, on one occasion, an outburst of tears.

Still, at just 21, Ding is a star on the rise and this is a great chance to watch him and some of the top snooker players in the world.

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Beijing > Metro Life > World Snooker China Open 2009
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