China's Ding loses decider in first round at Snooker World Championship

China's Ding Junhui competes during the first round match with England's Stuart Bingham at World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, Britain, on April 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhai Zheng)

China's snooker ace Ding Junhui lost in the opening round at the Snooker World Championship.

LONDON, April 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Ding Junhui was edged out by former world champion Stuart Bingham 10-9 in the opening round at the Snooker World Championship on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old Chinese ace hasn't won a title in his previous 17 journeys at the World Championship with a runner-up finish in 2016 as his best result in the annual event.

The ninth seed led 2015 champion Bingham 5-4 after the first session and the duo kept seesawing to 9-9 before their game had to be halted as they had to concede the table to the next match in the schedule.

When Ding and Bingham came back to the table later in the night, Bingham took the decider with a break of 70, reaching the last 16 to face Jamie Jones.

Mark Allen swept Chinese Lyu Haotian 10-2, winning a match at the World Championship for the first time in three years.

World number one Judd Trump leads Liam Highfield 7-2 overnight.