Ding Junhui may have struggled in the ranking events recently but he has retained his grip on the Chinese national events with a 5-3 victory over Jin Long yesterday…
His latest victory came in the Zhangjiagang leg of the Chinese National Championship, a competition that I understand is structured in a similar way to the World Series with several smaller events before a final stage later in the year.
This means that Ding remains unbeaten at national level for over three years now, though of course he cannot play at every event due to his commitments on the professional circuit. Fortunately for him (and Jin Long), though, this event has come just before the China Open so he was able to compete and keep his run going. In fact his last defeat came against Jin Long, not long after he won the China Open title in 2005.