How losing six stone helped Leeds’s David Grace knock out defending champion Ding Junhui in UK Championship

Having memorably reached the semi-finals of the first Triple Crown event of the year in 2015, the 35-year-old matched that performance for the first time in his career at last week’s Northern Ireland Open.

The good form continued for Grace with an opening-round win over Ian Burns that set up a mouth-watering clash with Ding, who beat Stephen Maguire to lift the UK Championship trophy for a third time in 2019.

And having recovered from being 5-3 down to eventually prevail 6-5, Grace explained that feeling fitter and sharper has contributed to his promising start to the 2020/21 campaign.

“I started going to Slimming World at the start of 2016, initially because I was getting married and I wanted to lose a bit of weight for the wedding,” said Grace, the world No.65.

“I just kept going after that and I’m up to six stone now. It’s been a gradual process, but it’s definitely helped, especially in the long matches because I get less tired.

“I just feel a bit better about myself, and that helps on occasions like today when you’re on the TV as well.”

Grace took an early lead in the contest in Milton Keynes with a break of 95 and managed two more half-centuries as he showed great resolve to snatch victory from under the nose of a player ranked in the world’s top ten.

And with a match-up against Xiao Guodong next in Round 3 - the furthest Grace has ventured in the competition since his last-four exploits five years ago - he is understandably confident of keeping his commendable run going.

He added: “It feels amazing to get through. I didn’t play my best today, I was just hanging on like I did in a lot of my matches last week and thankfully I was able to find something towards the end.

“For a TV table it was on the slower side, but that suited me because I’m used to the outside tables.

“I was desperate to follow up my run at the Northern Ireland Open by doing well here. I felt like I didn’t have much to lose out there today, and I’m looking forward to seeing where I can go from here.”

Elsewhere, fellow Leeds potter Oliver Lines - who beat world No 17 Gary Wilson in Round 1 - lost 6-1 to China’s Xu Si.

*Watch the UK Championship LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport app. Follow all the latest tournament news on Eurosport.co.uk

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