Ding might withdraw from the Premier League

[cap]

I don't know how long it takes to fly UK-China. But time difference is +8. If he's sheduled in the afternoon for the Asian it would be a question of heavy jetlagging, not of impossibility.

Obviously he doesn't need to fly to China. The Asian Games will be held in Doha which is 3 hours ahead of UK time and is about 7-8 hours by flight. Unless Ding travels on a private jet, he won't make the first day of competitions. Even he can make it, he'll be absolutely tired by the time he gets back for the UK Championship, which is a bit of concern.

[gingerale]

Obviously he doesn't need to fly to China. The Asian Games will be held in Doha which is 3 hours ahead of UK time and is about 7-8 hours by flight. Unless Ding travels on a private jet, he won't make the first day of competitions. Even he can make it, he'll be absolutely tired by the time he gets back for the UK Championship, which is a bit of concern.

Thanks cap, I totally missed that. He's still able to make the first day but might be burned out afterwards. He isn't the first youngster with a heavy shedule but most probably with an unique pressure lasting on his shoulders, having to come up to great international expectations.

[cueman]

He will have to withdraw from one or the other and I guess this is a problem that overseas players can face when the game is mainly played on British shores.

Its not a great position to be in but I feel he should fulfill his obligations to participate in the premier league, seeing as though this competition is already underway and nearing its final stages.
He has earned very good money from this event and the sponsors may well have the right to void his results and earnings if he withdrew before its conclusion. Also, as the premier league is an invite only event, if he decided to withdraw I think the sponsors and Barry Hearn would take a very dim view of this and probably never invite him back.

[chasmmi]

But then again nobosy objected when John Higgins entered whatever tournament it was fully knowing he probably would not complete it.

I know the PL is a private invite only event but I cant begrudge a player for wanting to play for his country (It's hardly like he is taking the greedy option).

It feels similar to the African players who have to abandon their clubs teams every other year to compete in the ACN in football. They hav a no win situation.

[cap]

Ding is in no win situation. On one hand, he risks upsetting a major event organiser and potentially breaching his contract. On the other hand he risks being branded a selfish person, putting personal interest before the country’s. He doesn’t really have a choice really if nothing is done.

I personally hope that the Chinese snooker association would see some sense of this. There are plenty of good Chinese players around to stand a good chance of winning the gold. The matches are of short format (best to 3 or 4, I think), so even Ding enters there is no guarantee that he will win anyway (although he won it last time at the age of 15). They should let him concentrate on the two tournaments that really matter.

[Caroline]

When originally the Asian Games' itinerary clashed with the Uk Championship there were very hot discussions among the Chinese fans on the topic about which one Ding should choose, interestingly the majority did support Ding and wanted him to defend his UK title but give up the Asian Games. Many people just said that it is the Chinese official side to be blamed for forcing Ding to represent the country, as generally speaking there are hands of other good Chinese players available and capable of participating the competition instead, and Ding had ever won a couple of gold medals for the country before already, including this same one.

[gensdon]

it's confirmed that he has withdrawn from the PL due to the clash with the Asian Games.

he will be breaking the contract with PL organisers, for which he may get punished, and whoever finishes No.5 on the league table will take his place in the knock-out stage.

i personally believe that ding would prefer to play the PL, but he has to give it up for national interest. i blame the chinese snooker authority for electing him to represent China in Doha. there are so many good players in China who are capable of winninng the gold medal. plus the fact, china will be No1 on the medal lists by a biiiiiiiig margin anyway. it's really pointless to deprive ding's chance of competing in a much more important tournament. it's really sad, these things happen in China.

[April madness]

Handing PL victory to Ronnie again? Just joking. Pity that he can't play there because of being required to play somewhere else; I guess that might end for him not being invited to such events with a fear of such possibility again, though would be interesting to see if really the PL organizers would actually do that (I guess there still are some money considerations).

[chasmmi]

But what happens if he wins the worlds or becomes number one.

It would be impossible for the PL people to leave him out even if they are p****d.

[chasmmi]

I would also like to say that if some like say Ronnie were to pull out of the Olympics (when snooker becomes an olympic sport) in order to compete on the IPT the press and fans here would hate him for it. Even though GB could send basically anyone and probably win Gold.

It's not a China exclusivity.

[gensdon]

yes, that's certainly true if it's olympics. because if snooker becomes an olympic sport, the olympic champion then will probably claim a similar status as a world champion since you'll be drawing against the bests in the world from all countries.
but ding's asian no1 in the sense that he ranked no1 among all asain players on the world rankings, and probably has won more than any asian players ever had. no one thinks him as no1 snooker player in asia if he wins the asian games gold medal. just like marco fu was the no1 when ding did win the gold medal for china in 2001.

[April madness]

But what happens if he wins the worlds or becomes number one.

It would be impossible for the PL people to leave him out even if they are p****d.

They can easily - it's just an invitational event, there are not any written rules about inviting world champion or world number one (though it has been a tradition), so the organizers can do whatever they want. Like invite Jimmy to compete there although he's far from top now (sadly). So the question is - would they really do so. I guess the logic is - Ding>China>big market>big (?) money.

[gensdon]

i don't think PL will punish him in that he'll never get invited again, because it's not really something he can help. and i think it'll more likely to be a monetary punishment if there is one. ding's agent is negotiating with them right now in trying to minimize it...

[chasmmi]

But it could be argued that China need Ding to stand a certain chance of gold,

I don't know who is competing but rankings wise, Wattana, Fu, Ali are all higher than Wenbo and Pianfei.

Does Australia count as Asia here? Will Robertson be competing?

[elvaago]

Link:

http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/menuroo...countries.aspx

I know for sure Wattana, Ali and Fu won't be representing China, but Wenbo and Pianfei are good candidates, I would say.

Participating countries and regions
The countries and regions participating in the Doha Asian Games 2006 come in various shapes and sizes. Discover Asia through Doha 2006! Click on a country or region to find out more.

AFG Afghanistan
BAN Bangladesh
BHU Bhutan
BRN Bahrain (Kingdom of Bahrain)
BRU Brunei Darussalam
CAM Cambodia
CHN China (PR China)
HKG Hong Kong, China
INA Indonesia
IND India
IRI IR Iran
IRQ Iraq
JOR Jordan
JPN Japan
KAZ Kazakhstan
KGZ Kyrgyzstan
KOR Korea (Republic of Korea)
KSA Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
KUW Kuwait
LAO Lao PDR
LIB Lebanon
MAC Macau, China
MAS Malaysia
MDV Maldives
MGL Mongolia
MYA Myanmar
NEP Nepal
OMA Oman (Sultanate of Oman)
PAK Pakistan
PHI Philippines (The Philippines)
PLE Palestine
PRK DPR Korea
SIN Singapore
SRI Sri Lanka
SYR Syria (Syrian Arab Republic)
THA Thailand
TJK Tajikistan
TKM Turkmenistan
TLS Timor-Leste
TPE Chinese Taipei
UAE United Arab Emirates
UZB Uzbekistan
VIE Vietnam
YEM Yemen (Republic of Yemen)
QAT Qatar (State of Qatar)