China A's Liang Wenbo stretches to take a shot during a match at the World Cup. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Led by world number five Marco Fu, Hong Kong, China, were formidable opponents, but Wuxi native Ding refused to buckle, making a break of 70 to even the match at 1-1.

After the teams traded the next two frames, Ding faced a deciding frame against Fu to keep China A in the World Cup.

When Fu got on the table and started racking up points, all appeared to be lost for China A. But he could only make a break of 51, and Ding had his chance.

The world number four kept his cool, and proceeded to clear the table and win the match.

"I feel guilty that I lost both games and put all the pressure on Ding," said Liang at the post-match press conference. "I will learn from today's lessons and perform better in the following matches."

But Ding did not seem overly concerned by his partner's performance. "I had the confidence to win the decisive frame," he said simply.