Ding Junhui Elected to WPBSA Players Board

The Chinese number one joins four others in the newly formed group.

Ding Junhui has been elected to the Board of WPBSA Players after the World Professional Billiards and Snooker AGM on Wednesday.

The former world number one was elected to the new body, which received formal approval as part of a governance review and wider constitutional changes passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting held in November.

Nigel Bond was also elected and the pair will join existing directors Ken Doherty, Mike Dunn, and Peter Lines on the new WPBSA Players Board.

Ding and Bond stood for election against Joe Perry, Mark Davis, Rod Lawler, Barry Pinches, Lee Walker, and Tian Pengfei.

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: “I am today pleased to welcome both Ding Junhui and Nigel Bond to the Board of WPBSA Players following their successful election.

“For over 15 years Ding has been a trailblazer for our sport in Asia following his landmark victory at the 2005 China Open and at last year’s UK Championship he reminded everybody of his class by claiming the title for a third time.

“Away from the baize he has also continues to play a significant role in our sport, having become almost a father figure to many of the young Chinese players competing on the World Snooker Tour.

“Already he has represented players in China on behalf of our colleagues at the China Billiards & Snooker Association.

“In this new formalised role, I am sure he will not only be a fantastic representative for Asian players, but for all players who travel great distances living away from home within our sport.

“Part of our vision to create WPBSA Players was to increase global representation within key roles and I am delighted to this is now becoming a reality.”

“Like Ding, Nigel Bond is a former World Championship finalist who brings to the board a wealth of experience at all levels having maintained an unbroken spell on our tour dating back to 1989.

“A former World Seniors champion, he remains capable of competing at the highest level as he showed with his stunning victory against world number one Judd Trump last year in York.

“Alongside his playing career, he has also become a successful coach around the world and has become an integral part of the WPBSA Coaching Programme, sharing his experience to help train the next generation of qualified snooker coaches.

“I am confident that both will bring significant value to WPBSA Players and that the recently announced constitutional changes will achieve our goal of better serving our member players, as well as furthering the world class governance and development of our great sport.”

Featured photo credit: WPBSA