Chinese Snooker superstar Ding Junhui achieved another historical milestone in his career by becoming the very first Asian player to reach the final round of the ongoing 2016 Betfred World Snookers Championships. Ding beat Alan McManus of Scotland with a 17-11 victory on Saturday at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

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Ding, James Wattana of Thailand and Marco Fu of Hong Kong are the only Asian players to have reached the last four of the World Championships. The 29-year-old Chinese cueman is the first to go one step further. He is set to face the reigning world No. 1 Mark Selby, who defeated world No. 14 Marco Fu in their semifinals matchup in a thrilling 17-15 victory.

Ding has won 11 ranking events and is considered to be the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. The Yixing, Jiangsu native started playing snooker at the early age of nine and turned professional in the year 2003 at the age of 16.

The Chinese snooker icon rose to international fame after he won the Asian Under-21 Championship, the Asian Championship, and the IBSF World Under-21 Championship in 2002 at the young age of 15.

According to Eurosport, an estimated 30 million viewers watched Ding's momentous semifinal round clash with the 45-year-old McManus during the middle of the night in China. The very recent match of "The Dragon" (Dings's nickname in the world of snooker) is said to have been the top-rated programme in the country on the night - outranking news and entertainment.

"They will be going crazy back home for this," Ding told Eurosport. "Around 100m people will be watching me, and this is the smallest figure probably."

TagsDing Junhui, world snooker, 2016 betfred world snooker championships, Mark Selby, world snooker rankings, marco fu