Sports story by Carl Anders, Tue, 20 Dec 2005 02:04:01 GMT


Ding Jun Hui halted Steve Davis 10-6 to win the Travis Perkins UK Championship title yesterday. The Chinese teenager won £70,000 as well as rose to the 31st position in the provisional rankings with this win. Steve Davis was denied the chance to win a record seventh UK Championship 18 long years after he had registered his sixth win.

The 48-year-old was gracious enough to concede that he was beaten by a better competitor, "He has learned his trade quite quickly and is a dangerous player with a good all-round game. He's got a good tactical brain and isn't just a young player only with breaks in him," Davis said. "It's a different style of era now and players tend to mature at an earlier age. The general break-building and tactical play is much better than in the past."

Davis was full of praise for the Shanghai teenager who had not won any prize money at the China Open in April since he competed on a wild card. Such a situation is unlikely to be repeated again, since Ding has enormous potential and his only way now would be up the rankings.

Ding said that he was tense as he went into the final match, "In England most people support Steve Davis and the pressure was on me in the final session when it looked like he might come back at me," he said. "It has given me loads of confidence and experience. I played well in the final, made more long pots and got more consistency in my break-building."

Ding also said that he hoped his efforts would inspire more Chinese sportspersons to take up snooker and compete at the highest level.

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