Less than a week after failing in his bid to become the youngest player ever to qualify for the Embassy World Championship, Ding Jinhui is quietly predicting he will be among the game's elite within four years.
Speaking in Shanghai where he is competing in this week's Amway Satinique Cup, the shy 16-year-old prodigy from Yixing, Jiangsu Province, said his first few months of living in Britain had been a learning experience to raise his game to the standard needed to be among the game's top players.
'I have followed a lot of these players for years and when I meet them for the first time I am always a bit nervous. But once the first break is gone it doesn't matter who the competition is - I know what I can do and what I have to do,' said Ding, number 101 in the provisional world rankings.
'There is no pressure on me. This is why I went to Britain to improve my skills. All we do there is practise, practise, practise.'
During last week's World Championship qualifier at Prestatyn Sands in Wales, Ding dismissed 86th ranked Atthasit Mahitthi and Paul Davis in succession. His Crucible debut looked within reach after he trounced Marcus Campbell 10-3 in stage three. However, world number 36 Barry Pinches proved to be too much as Ding was beaten 10-7.
Ding blamed himself for the loss and said that while he admired many of the senior players he was by no means intimidated by them.
Earlier this month was a prime example. After impressing in the qualifying for the Masters before losing in the final 16 to Rod Lawler, the organisers gave him a wild-card spot into the main event. Ding made the most his Wembley debut with his defeat of world number 16 Joe Perry 6-3 in the wild-card round. He then came within one ball of making the quarter-finals against Stephen Lee.