| QUOTE (BBC) |
| Ronnie O'Sullivan stunned the snooker world yet again on Thursday when he conceded his Maplin UK Championship quarter-final to Stephen Hendry. The former world champion was trailing 4-1 when he dramatically handed victory to his opponent after missing a red. Hendry was visibly stunned as O'Sullivan shook his hand and walked out of the Barbican Centre arena. "He just said he had had enough," said Hendry, who was awarded a 9-1 win. "I had no inkling anything was wrong." Hendry's semi-final opponent in York will be either reigning world champion Graeme Dott or Steve Davis. Hendry and O'Sullivan have clashed in the past, but the Scot said there were no longer any problems between the two. "There has been no bad feeling between us over the last few days, there is no bad feeling between us anymore anyway," he said. "Ronnie's obviously got his reasons and I'm not going to criticise him. "He just said he had had enough and wished me good luck for the rest of the tournament. Only he knows what he feels inside. "I can't criticise someone else for that, but I've never seen anything like it. It's just bizarre. "I played fantastic for the first four frames and didn't give him many chances, but at 4-1 he was in the balls and I was thinking 'keep concentrating'. "He went for a silly red and missed it. Suddenly he shook my hand." O'Sullivan was 24 points ahead when he missed an attempted pot and immediately declared the match over, shaking the hand of Hendry and referee Jan Verhaas. "I've been on the end of a few thumpings from him recently and so I was enjoying the game," said Hendry, the world number one. "I'm not going to lie, it's a good feeling to be in the next round. But I was enjoying the match, playing well and obviously I would much rather have won properly. "If he's got problems I feel for him, but I've never seen anything like it in my life." World Snooker's Michael Ganley, the tournament director, confirmed O'Sullivan had conceded the match. "I asked him if anything was wrong and he said 'no'. He's left the building and it has shocked us all," said Ganley. "I've seen players concede at certain stages of the game before, usually through illness. It happens occasionally but it's very rare. "Obviously he felt he couldn't continue, maybe for reasons we're not aware of, but he's forfeited the match." Officials of World Snooker, the sport's governing body, revealed O'Sullivan would not be holding a press conference to explain the reasons for his walkout. |
| QUOTE (Rob @ Dec 18 2006, 06:31 PM) |
| was a good night, good to get a few other players in the mix. congrats to chris, comiserations to nick but well played to everyone that turned up ;) next stop stute, bring yer thermals :lol: |
| QUOTE (old dog @ Dec 19 2006, 04:29 PM) |
| may i wish you a very warm welcome back mr av it youve been missed |