Ding Junhui has made a bold prediction about Zhao Xintong after losing to his compatriot in the second round of the World Snooker Championship, suggesting the reigning world champion is capable of breaking the long-standing Crucible curse.
Ding's confidence in Zhao
The clash between the Chinese icon and the reigning world champion ended 13-9 in favour of Zhao, who now faces Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals. Zhao is aiming to become the first first-time world champion to successfully defend the title the following year, a feat that has never been accomplished at the Crucible Theatre since it first hosted the World Championship in 1977.
Speaking after his defeat, Ding expressed his belief that the curse is no match for Zhao. 'The curse for him, I don’t think it’s working,' Ding said. When pressed on whether he thinks Zhao will lift the trophy again, Ding added: 'Yeah, I love to watch him playing and see him winning.'
Zhao's performance under pressure
Despite Zhao admitting he is 'very far' from his best form, Ding believes that a tournament-winning performance does not have to be spectacular. 'Yes, win the tournament doesn’t mean you play very well,' Ding explained. 'You’ve got tactics, whatever happens in the match, in between frames, we don’t know, nobody knows but he’s doing well in the whole match the past two days. I think he’ll learn from the match and improve every time. I think he’s better than anyone.'
Zhao, who returned from a ban to win the title last year as an amateur, admitted that the pressure of being defending champion is immense. 'The pressure is very, very big. It’s not like before,' he told the BBC. 'This is very different, last year I was not a seed, like a nobody guy, just want to beat anyone but now I don’t want to lose any match. I want to keep going, it’s different.'
The 29-year-old revealed that the pressure has affected his sleep. 'Yeah, a few days this week I didn’t sleep very well. I think it’s always like that in the Crucible match, but I think tonight I’ll be better.'
Chinese snooker spotlight
Zhao also noted that the intense scrutiny on Chinese players adds to the pressure, as snooker has become extremely popular in China. 'I think the Chinese players have more pressure because now in China snooker is a very popular sport,' he said. 'We have a lot of snooker fans watching the TV, so it’s very good news, but our players have more pressure. Last year every match if I win I was very happy, if I lose it’s ok I’m going back to China with my family. Now if I get to quarter-final I just want to go to semi.'
Zhao and Murphy will play their quarter-final match over three sessions starting on Tuesday morning.
