The 'Ding Junhui Curse' continues to cause havoc on the World Snooker Tour

One of the most bizarre sequence of results continues to extend on the World Snooker Tour, as the ‘Ding Junhui Curse’ once again struck at the recent Tour Championship.

What is the Ding Junhui Curse?

Basically, if a player defeats Ding Junhui at an event, they lose their next match. This remarkable streak has now been active for well over a year.

Robbie Williams was the last person not to fall victim to this statistic; at the 2024 Welsh Open - nearly 14 months ago - Williams defeated Ding 4-2 in the last 64 and went on to reach the last 16 where he bowed out to Mark Allen.

The Ding Junhui Curse was first activated at the 2024 Players Championship in late February of that year.

Ding went out in the first round 6-4 to John Higgins, but Higgins lost his next match in the competition to Zhang Anda.

A full list of the matches involved in the Curse is below. Even when Judd Trump defeated Ding in the final of the 2024 World Open, Trump lost his opening fixture at the next tournament - the Tour Championship.

The Ding Junhui Curse in full:

2024 Players Championship

Round 1: Ding 4-6 John Higgins
next round - Higgins loses 6-4 to Zhang Anda

2024 World Masters of Snooker

Round 2: Ding 3-4 Ali Carter
next round - Carter loses 4-1 to Luca Brecel

2024 World Open

Final: Ding 4-10 Judd Trump
Trump loses his next match at the Tour Championship 10-4 to Mark Williams

2024 Tour Championship

Quarter-Final: Ding 8-10 Mark Allen
next round - Allen loses 10-5 to Mark Williams

2024 World Championship

Round 1: Ding 9-10 Jack Lisowski
next round - Lisowski loses 13-11 to Stuart Bingham

2024 Shanghai Masters

Quarter-Final: Ding 3-6 Ronnie O'Sullivan
next round - O'Sullivan loses 10-3 to Judd Trump

2024 Xi'an Grand Prix

Round 1: Ding 4-5 Alfie Burden
next round - Burden loses 5-4 to Xu Si

2024 Saudi Arabia Masters

Last 32: Ding 4-5 Stuart Bingham
next round - Bingham loses 6-2 to Mark Williams

2024 British Open

Round 1: Ding 3-4 Aaron Hill
next round - Hill loses 4-1 to Mark Allen

2024 Wuhan Open

Last 16: Ding 3-5 Chris Wakelin
next round - Wakelin loses 5-4 to Judd Trump

2024 International Championship - Ding wins the tournament

2024 Champion of Champions

Round 1: Ding 0-4 Judd Trump
next round - Trump loses 6-4 to Neil Robertson

2024 UK Championship

Last 16: Ding 5-6 Shaun Murphy
next round - Murphy loses 6-2 to Barry Hawkins

2024 Scottish Open

Last 16: Ding 3-4 Luca Brecel
next round - Brecel loses 5-1 to Xiao Guodong

2024 Riyadh Season Championship

Quarter-Final: Ding 0-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan
next round - O'Sullivan loses 4-2 to Mark Allen

2025 Masters

Quarter-Final: Ding 3-6 Judd Trump
next round - Trump loses 6-3 to Kyren Wilson

2025 World Open

Last 16: Ding 2-5 Shaun Murphy
next round - Murphy loses 5-1 to Joe O'Connor

2025 World Grand Prix

Last 32: Ding 3-4 Xu Si
next round - Xu loses 4-3 to Hossein Vafaei

2025 Players Championship

Last 16: Ding 2-6 Mark Williams
next round - Williams loses 6-3 to Kyren Wilson

2025 Tour Championship

Semi-final: Ding 2-10 Mark Selby
next round - Selby loses 10-8 to John Higgins

The latest player to be added to this somewhat spooky list is Mark Selby, who crushed Ding 10-2 in the semi-finals of this year’s Tour Championship.

Selby was playing superbly in the final the next day, compiling four century breaks on his way to leading Higgins 8-5 in the title decider.

However, an inspired Higgins - who also crafted four tons during the record-equalling encounter - went on a roll himself by winning the final five frames for a 10-8 victory.

At present, this streak is up to 19 matches.

Reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson - who will be aiming to defy the ‘Crucible Curse’ over the next few weeks - is likely to be pleased to know that he is in the opposite half of the draw to Ding for the 2025 World Snooker Championship!

The 'Ding Junhui Curse' continues to cause havoc on the World Snooker Tour

What is the Ding Junhui Curse?

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