Chinese snooker player Ding Junhui. (Photo : Getty Images)
World no. 12 snooker player Ding Junhui of China suffered a shocking defeat in the hands of world no. 76 Lee Walker of Wales, 1-5, right in the qualifying round of the 2016 World Snooker China Open held at the Beijing University Students' Gymnasium in Beijing on Monday.
The 28-year-old Ding, who is reportedly the local favorite to win the tournament, was said to be enduring jet lag during his match with the 40-year-old Walker because of his "trips between Chinese Billiard World Championship in China, PTC Finals in UK and China Open again in China", according to Xinhuanet.
Ding lost the first three frames of the match to the WPBSA coach before coming alive in the fourth frame "with a 136-point break", but he dropped the next frame again, 23-89.
Both players made crucial mistakes in the sixth frame, but the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist "left the pink to Walker when he was 52-55 down" to surrender the match and his place in the last 64 of the said tournament.
"I don't know when is the daytime and when is night, I just get up on time, go to sleep on time and play the match on time," Ding, who is still noticeably sleepy, told reporters after the match.
Walker said that he was happy to break out of the gates in a hurry as Ding would have beaten him if he let him build momentum and made it a longer match.
"I know if I let him start well I may have no chance at all so I am glad that I had a good start," Walker said. "If I play well I can beat anyone, I am pretty sure of that."
Meanwhile, world no. 3 Neil Robertson of Australia was also a victim of a stunning upset as he was defeated by world no. 101 Noppon Saengkham of Thailand, 5-3, in the first round of the said competitions, as per BBC Sport.
Robertson, 34, who won the said event two years ago in 2013, managed to come out of the qualifying round but surprisingly fell to an unseeded 23-year-old opponent in the last 64.
Another Chinese favorite, world no. 18 Liang Wenbo, 29, exited the tournament earlier than expected as he was beaten by 46-year-old Peter Lines of England, 2-5, in the qualifying round.
