Ding Junhui has been fined after making critical comments at the Scottish Open in December. The financial penalty has been revealed after the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) issued a list of disciplinary cases spanning a period of almost five years.

Ding, who is ranked at No. 6 in the world, has enjoyed a sparkling career in snooker and reached the World Championship final in 2016 before suffering a narrow defeat to Mark Selby. Last November, he ended a five-year wait to win his 15th world ranking title when he dispatched Chris Wakelin in the final of the International Championship in Nanjing. But a month later, he came to the attention of the snooker authorities after issuing his verdict on the state of the tables at the Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

Ding was knocked out of the tournament following a 4-3 loss against 2023 world champion Luca Brecel.

And the South China Morning Post revealed the 38-year-old wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo after the match: "I have never played on a s*** table like this - the bounce on the cushion was the same as that of a spring. How can one control the cue ball on such a table?

"A bunch of amateur table installers packed up a pile of s*** for the professional players to play with, and you dare call yourself a professional event."

The World Snooker Tour explained in a statement at the time: "All the tables provided by Xingpai around the world have always been the best. We have a rigorous table-testing programme to provide the best playing conditions for all events.

"We also employ the best table installation team in the world. With their excellent skills and vast experience, they are able to overcome various challenges in every game to ensure that the game conditions are optimal.

"Ding made some negative comments this week after his loss to Brecel, which we strongly oppose. These comments are isolated as we have not received any negative feedback from other players this week regarding the playing conditions."

The WPBSA have revealed that Ding was sanctioned for "publicly criticising snooker parties in social media posts."

He was slapped with a £4,000 fine for his comments, with £2,500 of the fine suspended until March 2025. He was also ordered to pay £975 in costs.

Following his defeat at the Scottish Open, Ding renewed his rivalry with Brecel at the World Championship but was thrashed 13-4 in a second round encounter. And after the match, snooker icon Steve Davis labelled Brecel's performance as "the most amazing exhibition of snooker" he'd ever seen in one session at the Crucible.

Ding was then told by Stephen Hendry that he would be "fuming" after Zhao Xintong had become the first Chinese world champion at his expense.