Chinese snooker genius Ding starts last-day torch relay in Anhui
30/5/2008 16:12
Chinese snooker player Ding Junhui started the torch relay today in
purpose-built "Lucky Cloud" Square located at the foot of East Hill in Jixi
County, initiating the last-day Olympic flame journey in Anhui
province.
Prior to the relay, the provincial and local officials donated at
the open-up stage for the earthquake reconstruction and all the people present
made silence tribute to the quake death.
The relay started at 9:10 with 80
torchbearers carrying the Olympic torch in the 4.4-km prefectural relay before
moving to Huangshan city, a tour resort in Anhui, for another 120 bearer passing
the torch.
Ding Junhui, 21, three gold medals winner at the Asian Games,
entered snooker playing at the age of nine, when his father took him to the
Chinese national team training centre near Shanghai.
His father persuaded his
mother to sell their house in order for Ding to continue playing snooker as a
career. He practices for eight hours every day.
"I got fizzed up when I heard
the news of being picked up as a torchbearer. It's so exalting to run in the
first place," recalled Ding.
In 2003, Ding became the number one player in
China. Ding shot to international prominence in 2002, when he won the Asian
Under-21 Championship, the Asian Championship and the IBSF World Under-21
Championship.
"I will go to matches at the end of August, but I would prefer
to stay at home to watch the competitions through the Olympic Games," said
Ding.
" I really hope to play in the Olympic Games. I have been in love with
the Olympics since I was a kid, but snooker is not included in the
Olympics."
Currently, Ding Junhui holds the record for the most unanswered
points (495) in any snooker tournament. This was during the Betfred Premier
League against Stephen Hendry.
Three ranking event wins for Ding are China
Open in 2005, UK Championship in 2005 and Northern Ireland Trophy in
2006.
Jixi's relay wrapped up at around ten o'clock in the morning and moved
to Huangshan, where is set to hold on the relay at 2 p.m..
Jixi is a county
in Anhui under the jurisdiction of Xuancheng. Its population is 180,000 and its
area is 1126 square kilometers.
Jixi borders Lingan in the east, Ningguo and
Jingde in the south, and Taiping to the west. Jixi County is a hilly region with
many rivers and bodies of water. Jixi County has jurisdiction over 7 towns and
10 townships.
Xinhua
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