Ken Doherty disagrees with Stephen Hendry over how Ding Junhui will be feeling after his compatriot Zhao Xintong won the World Snooker
Ken Doherty has rejected Stephen Hendry’s claim that Ding Junhui will be jealous of Zhao Xintong’s World Championship success. Ding has been the standard bearer of Chinese snooker for almost 20 years and was widely expected to be the first world champion from his country.
Despite winning snooker’s two other Triple Crown titles, the Masters and the UK Championship, Ding has failed to get his hands on the big one. And he has now been beaten to it by Zhao, who defeated Mark Williams 18-12 in the final, having crushed Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semis with a session to spare. Zhao is a former UK champion himself but had to start from scratch in the game after serving a 20-month ban for his part in the match-fixing scandal that saw 10 Chinese players sanctioned, with two banned for life. Following the 28-year-old’s Crucible victory, seven-time world champion Hendry argued Ding would be “fuming”.
However, Doherty, who beat Hendry in 1997 to win his sole world title, does not subscribe to that theory. Talking to Gambling.com, the Irishman said: “I don’t think he will be jealous. I think he might be slightly envious.
“Ding was sort of the godfather of Chinese snooker. He was the pioneer. He showed the way for a lot of the young guys, including Xintong. And he would have helped him.
“He set up an academy here in Sheffield with 18 snooker tables. Five or six of the lads who qualified for the World Championship play in his club. So he sort of opened his arms. And then there’s another academy (Victoria’s), where Xintong and Si Jiahui play.
“He might be a little bit envious, that’s understandable. He started the whole revolution of Chinese snooker, and I think in a way he’ll be somewhat satisfied that eventually they have a world champion now.”
Hendry explained that he himself would be annoyed if he were in Ding’s shoes, hence his belief surrounding the veteran’s response. Speaking on the Snooker Club podcast, the Scot said: “It’ll be really interesting to see what Ding’s thinking. He’s been the benchmark for Chinese snooker. He will be fuming. If it was me, I’d be fuming.
“The fact is that Ding is snooker in China. Overnight, he is not Mr Snooker anymore. It might spur him on, who knows, but it’s something that’s going to be difficult for him to handle, actually. If it was me, I’m Ding Junhui, I’m not happy tonight. I don’t know Ding well, maybe he’s close to Zhao and he’s delighted for him.”
