Ding survives qualifying round at World Snooker International

Ding Junhui beat Sam Craigie 6-4 to survive the qualifying round of the 2015 World Snooker International Championship here on Sunday.

After the championship moved from Chengdu to Daqing, the qualifying round will be staged in England. However, defending champion Ricky Walden, world champion Stuart Bingham and top two Chinese players Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo will have their matches played in Daqing.

Ding expressed his confidence to win the championship after winning the Haining Open two days ago.

But Ding was challenged by Craigie on the very first night, who tied 4-4 after eight frames with a 100-point break. Ding then struggled to take the ninth frame 64-47, and won the round 6-4 with a 74-point break in the 10th frame.

"I made a turnover at the fifth frame before he found the instinct to play," Ding said, explaining that coming to Daqing right after the Haining Open made it harder for him to play, "For seven or eight days in a row the first thing after I opened my eyes is training or going to match. It feels like I am playing the World Championship."

Earlier this afternoon, defending champion Walden lost to Tian Pengfei 6-4.

"It's a home game so I don't have a lot of pressure," said Tian, "I just want to demonstrate what I have." Endi