From 4-7 to 10-7, such a reversal was rare in the professional snooker arena, but he did. In the early morning of April 13, Beijing time, in the fourth round of the 2022 Snooker World Championship Qualification Round, China's Ding Junhui won 6 consecutive sets in a passive situation of falling behind in the big score, reversing the 46-year-old "old man" David Liri, the elder world champion, and entering the world championship for the 16th consecutive time.
Successfully advanced to the main event "warm-up"
Ding Junhui has been participating in the World Championships since 2007 and has never been absent for 15 consecutive seasons. But this year, Ding Junhui's state is sluggish, the world ranking has fallen to 29th, and he can no longer go to the Crucible Theatre as a seeded player in the past, but fortunately, he does not have to start from the first round of the qualifiers, but starts from the third round.
In the first match, Ding Junhui ushered in the "Director Derby" with his friend Tian Pengfei, the two were the director and deputy director of the "Professional Players Committee in the UK" of Chinese players, and ding Junhui won 6-4, one step away from the main game.
The final round of the qualifying round adopts the same 19 innings and 10 win format as the first round of the main round, which is divided into 9 innings in the first half and 10 innings in the second half. In the first half, Ding Junhui fell behind 4-5, and after returning to the table, David Liri won two more sets to rewrite the big score to 7-4, after which Ding Junhui staged a Jedi counterattack, playing a single shot of 59 points, 62 points, 76 points, 56 points, and finally achieved a big reversal with an aggregate score of 10-7, qualifying for the Crucible Theatre for 16 consecutive years.
The smooth promotion to the main competition also made Ding Junhui's mood relax, he wrote on social media: "I haven't played such a long game for a long time, it is a practice in advance, pack up my things and go home to eat the supper left by her mother." Adjust and move on to the back of the game! ”
Looking forward to repeating the "Qualifying Miracle"
After a long downturn, Ding Junhui's state has rebounded slightly, but there is still a big gap from the peak. However, in the world championship hot list, Ding Junhui ranked 7th, no one dares to deny that his strength is still in the forefront of the world, after all, Ding Junhui is also a runner-up in the world championship, and winning the world championship is the biggest dream in his current career.
As a former Chinese brother, Ding Junhui last qualified for the World Championships through the qualification tournament, back to 2016, and it was that time, he achieved his best record at the World Championships, Ding Junhui in the main tournament all the way to the final, and finally lost to Selby, who was in the sky at that time. After the game, when asked if he had the confidence to replicate the miracle, Ding Junhui smiled and said: "I hope to improve my competitive status as the game progresses." ”
The 2022 World Snooker Championships will take place from 16 April to 2 May at the Crucible Theatre in the United Kingdom, and counting the previous 16 seeded players, 24 seats have been made in the round of 32. Among them, there are already 4 Chinese players: Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao as seeded players who have directly advanced to the main tournament, and Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian have broken through from the qualifiers. Tonight, two other Chinese players, Yuan Sijun and Lei Peifan, will compete for tickets to Crucible. Looking forward to the good luck and play of the Chinese legion at this World Championship, going further, looking forward to Ding Junhui's return of the king, let us wait and see!
Text/Qiu Ye
Photo/Weibo