China's elite cueman and former world No. 1 Ding Junhui made an early exit from the 2016 World Snooker China Open on Monday as he yielded to Lee Walker of Wales in a 5-1 defeat in their qualifying round matchup.

According to China.org, the local favorite professional snooker player continues to be in the 16th spot on the projected rankings; however, Ding's fate is now out of his hands.

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"I don't know when is the daytime and when is night, I just get up on time, go to sleep on time and play the match on time," said Ding, who looked jaded in front of his home fans.

Scottish Stephen Maguire and Kyren Wilson of England are best placed to surpass Ding and if either manage to reach the semifinals in Beijing, then the 2006 Asian Games gold medalist cueman would have to scoop three qualifying matches to secure a spot at the Crucible next month.

In the fourth frame, Ding got a break of 136, but Walker successfully landed the other five frames having a top break of 88. The 40-years-old Welshman claimed the victory in the sixth after the Chinese ace missed the final pink.

In the other matches, another home crowd favorite Liang Wenbo also failed to picked up a win after he lost 5-2 to the 46-year-old Englishman Peter Lines. The 29-year-old China's second-best player is now out of the running for an automatic Crucible spot as he will be 17th at best when the seeding axe falls at the end of this tournament.

World number three Neil Robertson also suffered a 5-3 defeat to Noppon Saengkham of Thailand in a high-quality match.

TagsDing Junhui, lee walker, China Open, world snooker, neil robertson, Liang Wenbo, Stephen Maguire