By Elliott West
“I’ve been playing well all week. I believe in myself and try to pot more balls than everybody.”
Ding Junhui
Introduction
With the Gary Lineker story dominating the headlines, it would have been easy to miss the brilliant news that Ding Junhui has finally turned a corner and won a title after a very long and protracted drought in form. The victory came in a tournament that wasn’t quite traditional snooker, an event where six reds were missing. He would have to travel to Thailand, Pathum Thani near Bangkok to be geographically precise for the welcome return of the Six Red World Championship, a tournament that has been missing from the snooker calendar since 2019 due to Coronavirus restrictions.
Perhaps this victory came as a result of the pressure being off this highly talented Chinese snooker player, this was a non-ranking and no crucial ranking points were at stake. With all the shackles of pressure released, Ding could flourish in what is essentially a fun event and one that Ding previously won in 2016 when he defeated Stuart Bingham 8-7 in the final.
A Close Call
With the favourites Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan knocked out of this tournament, probably due to being a new experience for them, the jury was definitely out on who may come up trumps and win the £120,000 cheque and the magnificent trophy. Thai fans obviously wanted one of their local players to claim the crown and with James Wattana beaten by Ronnie O’Sullivan earlier on in the event, Dechwat Poomjaen dispatched and Sunny Akani gone, it fell to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to try and scoop the trophy.
This was a final that was very hard to call with both players well versed at this variant of snooker. Ding came out firing and capitalised on an error by his opponent, allowing him to make a 72 run to take the first and 71 in the second. At 2-0 up and only the first to 8 frames, Ding was off to a flying start by Un-Nooh wanted to make a match of it and clawed back a frame to make it 2-1 with a fine break of 53. A missed pink by Ding would make it 2-2. However, Ding would take the next two frames to take a commanding 4-2 lead.
This was fast and furious hybrid snooker with Thepchaiya determined to win. Taking the next two, it was back to 4-4. At 5-4 to Ding, this match looked tasty but it was in the end Ding who prevailed, winning this epic slug fight 8-6. A heavy trophy was waiting for the Chinese victor, presented by the King of Thailand and accompanied in the presentation party by Jason Ferguson. This really was a prize fit for a king and was accompanied by an accolade of applause and fizzing illuminations. This was followed by a noisy press conference for the champion with his eyes firmly now plenty of practice ahead of the WST Classic, Your Championship and the World Championship. A new champion for a revamped tournament, complete with a new trophy for the event.
