Rookie Liang stuns Doherty to add Chinese joy

SHEFFIELD, England, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Crucible newcomer Liang Wenbo produced the biggest upset of the 2008 World Snooker Championship so far after a 10-5 first-round win over world No. 4 Ken Doherty on Wednesday.

Liang joined Ding Junhui, who beat Marco Fu of Chinese Hong Kong in a deciding frame overnight, to be the first two Chinese mainland players in the last 16 of the sport's premier event and he will next meet Joe Swail.

The Chinese impact could gather even more force if Liu Chuang, trailing by just one frame against Ronnie O'Sullivan, follows his compatriots' examples on Thursday.

Liang, 21, presented his Crucible debut and first-ever ranking event in an awesome style. He led 7-2 in the morning session, thanks to breaks of 77, 58, 68, 51 and 95, before sending 1997 champion Doherty crashing out at the first hurdle for the second consecutive year.

"I felt very nervous out there, but to beat a player like Ken gives me a lot of confidence," said the former world under-21 champion, who is now based at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield.

"But I did quite well handling the pressure, trying my best and focusing on my game only."

Doherty now looks sure to drop out of the top 16 of the rankings for the first time in 15 years.

Just 12 months ago, the Dubliner had a chance at the world No. 1 spot only to suffer an opening loss to Mark Allen.

"It's hard to describe how I'm feeling at the moment," he said, "I didn't play the way I know that I can play and to drop out the top 16 is the icing on the cake."

"Liang looked like he had no nerves at all, almost as though he' d been at the Crucible more times than me. I just had too much of a mountain to climb."

Liang added the first frame in the evening with a 56. Doherty pulled one back and cleared from the brown in the next for a respotted black, but then went in-off attempting safety to fall 9-3 behind.

The 38-year-old was struggling to find his form and pulled two frames back with a top run of 69. But Liang was not to be denied and got the better of a scrappy 15th frame for victory.

Stephen Maguire, the only player to win two ranking events this season, sent out a clear indication that he has come to the Crucible in peak form by taking an 8-1 lead over Anthony Hamilton.

Earlier, 2006 world champion Graeme Dott also crashed out of the first round after losing 10-7 to Joe Perry while Shaun Murphy, winner of 2005 world championships, smashed Dave Harold 10-3.