It was the right decision to make, says Stephen Hendry: 2012 World Snooker Championship
Sudden news struck the snooker world when the former seven-time World Snooker Champion, Scotland’s Stephen Hendry made an announcement that he is retiring from professional snooker. The announcement must have surprised Hendry’s fans but the veteran believes
he has made the right decision because he felt that the time had come.
Hendry was playing against his compatriot Stephen Maguire in the quarter-final encounter of the 2012 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. He was unable to play up to the mark against Maguire and slipped down by the score line
of 2-13. He had already planned to quit snooker even before he began his run in the Championship.
Stephen threatened his retirement from the sport after he lost in the second round of the 2011 World Snooker Championship but on his family’s consent, he reversed his decision but this time it was sure as he had already made up his mind. Hendry said that
he was planning to say good bye to the game of snooker for the past three months and was waiting for the right time.
While speaking to World Snooker, Hendry said, “I made the decision about three months ago, I didn't tell many people, I only told two or three people but this is me finished in tournament snooker. If I'd have won this event, it would have been an even better
way to go out.”
The living legend added, “It was the right decision to make, it's sad that my last match was a 13-2 drubbing, but at least it wasn't 13-0! I haven't been able to play the way I want to play for the last ten years and it has ground me down, I keep getting
beat in first and second rounds to people who I still know are not as good as me, after a while it becomes too much.”
However, he also regrets that his finish in the event was not proper. He reckoned that it would have looked better had he won the Championship or at least lost after a close game. The Ice Man signed a contract with the Chinese snooker governing body and
will be coaching the young Chinese potters.
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