Ding Junhui was shockingly knocked out in the first round of this year's Betway UK Snooker Championship as have a string of other top seeds with only Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy left in the last 16 at moment.
But, let's look back at the 2005 Uk Championship, which saw Ding fire his way to his second ranking title - at that time held in York, before moving to another venue.
Ding's first ranking event win came in China, and at that time he was ranked 62nd in the world.
Upon winning his second ranking title in York, he was 60th in the World Rankings, where the rankings were based on points rather than prize money.
Points Make Prizes
Ding's win saw him pocket £70,000 with the 48-year-old Steve Davis reaching his first ranking final in two years.
The age gap was considerable as Ding, 18, was 30 years younger than Davis, and, by accounts, he won 10 - 6.
The Chinese player's win in 2005 in terms of the UK Championship means he is the lowest ranked player so far to have won the UK Championship.
12 years on from there. the snooker public is viewing a global wealth of talent from China and around Asia, with oldish and newer faces from Asia still in this year's tournament.
Li Hang, who was knocked out of this tournament by Ryan Day, did however provide a moment of hope as he had been on the chance of a 147, but broke down on 120 and missed a yellow with the rest.
Age Gaps
Of course, Yan Bingtao, who was knocked out by John Higgins, was a whisker away from winning his first ranking title in Northern Ireland but was pipped to the post by the Class of 92 player Mark Williams.
Out of 24 editions since Ronnie O'Sullivan's win in 1993, his first of five UK titles, and still competing strong, 10 of them have been won by the three class of 92 players: Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
At the end of the 2005/6 season, Ding shot up the rankings from 62nd to 27th.
Of course, under the new money system now, and with prize money of £170,000 for the winner's share, the winner of this year's title, will have a quick rise into the top 16 depending on where they are in the rankings.
Ironically, although there's a handful of talented younger Chinese players such as Bingtao shining at the moment, there's also the likes of "seasoned veterans" such as Xiao Goudong at 28 - having a turn of form of late.
If we looked at the Northern Ireland Open which became before this event, there was a 25 year age gap between 17-year-old Yan Bingtao and his opponent the great Mark Williams, 42.
O'Sullivan started his season in 1993 which included his UK title win at 17 on 57th, and ended it at number nine in the World!
