THE youngest player competing in the Travis Perkins UK Snooker Championship will be 17-year-old Chinese cracker Ding Junhui.

He is through to the final stages of a world ranking event for the only the third time in his fledgling career.

Ding, ranked 76 in the world, turned pro only last year and makes his bow at York's Barbican Centre on the second day of the tournament, Tuesday, November 16.

His opponent will be world number 32 Dominic Dale. And should the teenager pull off an upset and win he will come up against snooker legend Steve Davis. After that it would be world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The teenager showed terrific form earlier this week when beating Tony Drago 5-0 in the British Open first round at Brighton.

Ding, who comes from Shanghai but lives in Northamptonshire during the snooker season, often practising with former world champion Peter Ebdon, earned his trip to York with a 9-4 defeat of Irishman Fergal O'Brien in the final qualifying round at Prestatyn last month.

The first ranking event final stages he reached was the Daily Record Players' Championship earlier this year when he beat Mark Selby before losing to Leeds' Paul Hunter.

Ding first came to public notice in this country when he got a wild card entry to the Wembley Masters last season and made two century breaks in beating Joe Perry. In his next match he led world No 9 Stephen Lee but lost 6-5.

He shook the snooker world in 2002 with an unprecedented hat-trick, winning both the Asian under-21 and senior titles, and - at the age of 15 - captured the World Under-21 Championship in Latvia.

In the same year he won a gold medal in the Asian Games and reached the semi-finals of the World Amateur Championship.

In an invitation event in Thailand in the summer of 2003, Ding beat Mark Williams and Marco Fu to reach the semi-finals before losing to Ken Doherty.

He practices about six hours a day, five or six days a week. His main strengths are break building and long potting, with safety play his weak point. Last season he made 17 centuries, the highest 137.

Away from the table, Ding enjoys gym work, swimming and playing computer games. He loves watching Jackie Chan films on DVD.

Ding's aim this season is to get into the top 48 in the rankings.

A Shanghai doctor has placed a bet of £200 on a Chinese player to win the World Championship by 2010. The bookmaker gave odds of 500-1. If Ding's career continues to prosper, the bookie could have to pay £100,000.

Ding is one of eight playersplaying in York for the first time since the UK Championship came here in 2001. The others are Marcus Campbell, Ryan Day, Tom Ford, Jimmy Michie, Neil Robertson, Sean Storey and Ricky Walden.

Updated: 16:31 Wednesday, November 10, 2004