Ding Junhui’s 28th birthday has witnessed the young boy turning into a man in 10 years

The annual World Snooker China Open is in full swing at the Beijing University Gymnasium. At this time of year, there is such a special day that puts a special color on the China Open. April 1st-this day is the birthday of China’s number one star Ding Junhui. In the past ten years, Ding Junhui has had great joys and great sorrows on his birthday here. However, more often, the process of his transformation from a boy to a big man is preserved. In ten years, Ding Junhui was also used as a microcosm to witness the strong rise of Chinese snooker from only one ranked tournament to breaking the rule of the British Isles.

The China Open was founded in 1997, and it went off and on for the next few years. It was not until 2005 that it moved to Beijing before it became a regular tournament in the World Professional Rankings. Once a year thereafter, until today. Most of the previous Chinese Opens were held around April 1, and April 1 happened to be Ding Junhui’s birthday. Therefore, celebrating Ding Junhui’s birthday has become a special part of the previous Chinese Opens.

In 2005, the China Open, which had just settled in Beijing, was held in Haidian Stadium from March 27 to April 3. On April 1, Ding Junhui celebrated his 18th birthday. On the same day, Ding Junhui won the derby with Fu Jiajun from Hong Kong, China 5-2, and gave a generous gift to his birthday. After the game, the organizers of the event prepared a special birthday banquet for him, and Fu Jiajun was also invited to participate. Fu Jiajun congratulated Xiaohui on his victory and hoped that he would go further. And Ding Junhui did not disappoint. After reaching the finals, he defeated the billiard emperor Hendry and won the first professional championship. Therefore, the Chinese Open became Ding Junhui’s famous place.

However, in 2009, Ding Junhui left an unbearable memory here. At that time, he lost in the first round to Xiao Guodong, who played with a wild card, and failed to beat a domestic player for the first time in three years. After the game, it was only 20 minutes before Ding Junhui entered his birthday. In a depressed atmosphere, Ding Junhui came to the press conference site with tears in his eyes. This is how he waited for a bitter birthday.

Fortunately, the low tide finally passed. As Ding Junhui regained his glory in other competitions, the record of the Chinese Open also improved. Therefore, on his birthday, the smile returned to his face. In 2010, after he defeated Selby, he laughed at the big cake prepared for him. In 2011, a special birthday party before the game helped him defeat Stephen Lee. In 12 years, although Ding Junhui lost to King Alberton 10 minutes before his birthday, he still set the second best result of the season.

Last year, Ding Junhui defeated Astri at 5-1 on his birthday and won a big gift for his birthday. After that, he made persistent efforts to beat Robertson in the final, and dominated the China Tournament for the second time in nine years. What is especially admirable is that it was also the fifth time in a single season that it won a major ranking championship. The place of fame, once again left a strong mark in his career.

From the uncontrollable joy at the beginning, to the tearful press conference site, and then to calmly face it, the birthday party of the China Open witnessed Ding Junhui’s transformation from a young boy to a big man. Accompanying this process is the strong rise of Chinese snooker. Like China’s No. 1 himself, China’s snooker development has experienced an uneven process from toddler to maturity in the past ten years.

In 2005, the China Open officially settled in Beijing. At that time, the professional tournament in China was the only stop. Facts have proved that the snooker project has great prospects in China, especially Ding Junhui soaring to the sky to win the 2005 China Championship, which injects strong impetus into its development in China. In 2007, the Shanghai Masters, a competition of the same level, was born in Shanghai and became another highly stable event after the China Tournament. After that, the third major event hosted by China settled in Wuxi, Ding Junhui’s hometown. Next, the Haikou World Open and the Chengdu International Championships were also born. At the most, there were as many as five major ranking tournaments held in China, accounting for half of the entire season, breaking the long-standing rule of the British Isles.

A cycle of ten years, as the Chinese army led by Ding Junhui matures, the development of snooker in China has gradually become more rational. However, the China Open has become an important puzzle of the world’s snooker territory with its unique and heavy snooker culture precipitation.