When Liang Wenbo first looked as if he might mount a serious challenge to Ding Junhui as China’s No1, there was the odd story floating around that the main man’s nose had been put out of joint by the new threat, and that there was some tension between the pair.
This notion peaked with a ‘Great War of China’ headline in a red-top newspaper – but the truth was that the rivalry, though real, was very much of a sporting kind only, and off table the pair were good friends and enjoyed each other’s company.
If any further confirmation of that were needed there were plenty of OK-style photo spreads in a couple of the Chinese snooker magazines in Shanghai of Liang, Ding, their wives and other family and friends on holiday together in August on the paradise island of Mahe in the Seychelles.
Photograph by Monique Limbos