Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo beat Mark Williams, Matthew Stevens to play final: 2011 World Cup Snooker
An easy victory for China’s Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo set up their clash with Northern Ireland at Bangkok Convention Centre in Thailand on Sunday, July 17. The Chinese pair defeated the Welsh duo of Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens convincingly by 4-1
in the semi-final. Junhui and Wenbo had to play out of their skins to oust the favourites, Williams and Stevens.
The Chinese pair had to work really hard to come out of the group stage of the competition, as they grabbed all matches after facing a tough fight from their opponents. But as they made it to the knockout stage, they changed their playing strategy, which
helped them grab easy wins. With superb teamwork, they managed to beat Republic of Ireland’s Ken Doherty and Fergal O’Brien in the quarter-final to set up their match with Wales.
Junhui and Wenbo gave the same medicine to Williams and Stevens in their match and completely dominated the proceedings. They played impressively to completely unsettle the Welshmen during the match. Junhui clinched all his individual frames while Wenbo
lost one to Stevens, as they moved towards a comprehensive victory by the score line of 4-1.
After the semi-final triumph, Ding Junhui spoke to news reporters, “I'm looking forward to the final and hopefully it will be against Hong Kong and it would be like at Wembley when I played Marco. This is my first time in the World Cup and it would be great
to meet Hong Kong in the final. Only two players can play from China and I'm very proud that I'm one of them so I have to take my chances this time.”
He added, “Liang won a very difficult frame with Mark Williams and he was losing but came back. If we won three matches in the group you could still not qualify so it's been really difficult. I like the doubles and it's like playing pool. Snooker has never
done this before and it's great.”
The men from China will next meet Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen and Gerard Greene or Hong Kong’s Marco Fu and Fung Kwok Wai in the ultimate title match at Bangkok Convention Centre.
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