FORGET the Crucible Curse, Ding Junhui‘s hex puts that to shame.
And its most recent victim Luca Brecel brought the streak up to SIXTEEN matches this season.
Basically, if a player defeats Ding at an event, they are destined to lose their next match.
This spooky jinx has stalked EVERY opponent Ding has faced this season.
It struck again for Brecel at the World Championships on Wednesday – but the Belgian has already been a part of the sequence this year.
Brecel hammered Ding 13-4 in the second round in Sheffield last week, but succumbed 13-8 Judd Trump in the quarter-finals.
With Ding out of an event, his opponents have suffered defeat in the next round, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Trump, Mark Selby, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy – who have all been through it TWICE over the last year.
The Ding Junhui Curse was first activated at the 2024 Players Championship last February.
Ding, 38, went out in the first round 6-4 to John Higgins, but Higgins lost his next match in the competition to Zhang Anda.
And it extends over periods when Ding loses a final or gives a bye to an opponent after he pulls out of a competition.
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Even when Trump defeated Ding in the final of the 2024 World Open, The Ace lost his opening fixture at the next tournament – the Tour Championship.
Selby looked destined to end the run after drubbing Ding 10-2 in the semi-finals of the Tour in Manchester earlier this month.
The Leicester Jester led fellow four-time world champion Higgins 8-5 in the final, only to lose the final five frames in a 10-8 defeat.
Even Ross Muir couldn’t break the spell after Ding withdrew from their last-64 meeting at the German Masters in January.
After receiving a walkover, the Scot was dumped out after losing 5-2 to Yuan Sijun in the next round.
Apart from his title run at the International Championship in November, when Ding lifted the trophy with a 10-7 win over Chris Wakelin in Nanjing, every unfortunate rival to defeat the Chinese player has faced an instant demise in the next round.
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
English Open (Brentwood) – Ding did not play
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
Shoot Out (Swansea): Ding did not play
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 German Masters
- Ross Muir had a walkover win over Ding in Round 1
- Next round – Muir loses 5-2 to Yuan Sijun
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
2025 World Championship
- Second round: Ding 4-13 Luca Brecel
- Next round – Brecel loses 13-8 to Judd Trump
Robbie Williams was the last person to escape it nearly 14 months ago.
At the 2024 Welsh Open, Williams defeated Ding 4-2 in the last 64 and went on to reach the last 16 where he bowed out to Mark Allen.
This season, the stat began with O’Sullivan at the Shanghai Masters last July.
O’Sullivan defeated Ding 6-3 before losing 10-3 to Trump in the semi-finals.
Of course, while the new hex may only be a seasonal haunting, the 48-year-old ‘Crucible Curse’ shows no signs of being lifted.
Simply put, that curse is the belief that no first-time world champion has ever successfully followed up with a defence in the next year.
Defending champion Kyren Wilson wanted to break it, but lost to 10-9 to Lei Peifan in the first round in April.
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