Hong Kong’s Andy Lee bows out of snooker’s 6 Red World Championship qualifiers, blames delayed start for loss of focus

Hong Kong’s Andy Lee Chun-wai crashed out of snooker’s 6 Red World Championship in the third round of qualifying, and said a long delay had not been “ideal preparation” for his matches.

After eliminating Victor Sarkis and Oliver Lines, Lee lost 6-4 to 20-year-old Irishman Aaron Hill, who he was trailing for the entire game at the Barnsley Metrodome.

Organisers had scheduled more than a 100 matches in a matter of days at the venue so it would be ready for the Welsh Open qualifiers, which start on Wednesday.

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“I got off to a poor start this morning, which ultimately cost me the match,” Lee said. “The start of our match was delayed this morning. We went on two hours over our scheduled start time. So, waiting around was quite hard to get my focus.”

This is the first time that the invitation event had has a qualifier, with the four top players joining the field for the main tournament in Bangkok, from March 6 to 11.

“It was not an excuse but poor organisation really with so many matches to play and obviously they are not expecting the matches to run late,” Lee said.

With players having to “wait for tables”, the 42-year-old said he had also been delayed before the start of his second round encounter with Lines.

“My second round match was scheduled to play at 7pm and we did not start until 9.30pm,” he said. “That finished just before midnight, but I had to get up early again to get to the venue for the next start time. It was not ideal to prepare for matches.”

Despite his loss, Lee’s result was the best of the Hong Kong contingent, with Marco Fu Ka-chun falling 6-5 to Englishman Joe O’Connor in the opening round, and Ng On-yee going out 6-4 to China’s Tian Pengfei.

The trio will all feature in the Welsh Open qualifiers this week, with Fu taking on David Gilbert in the tenth meeting between the pair.

Gilbert leads the head-to-head 5-4, but Fu won their last encounter 5-1 at the European Masters in Germany last July.

Ng will face world No 67 Andy Hicks, while Lee goes up against rookie Jenson Kendrick, who turned professional at the start of the current season after earning a two-year tour card via Q School.

Lee said he wanted to qualify for the main draw at next month’s Welsh Open, so he could make “strong finish to the season”.

“If I can win my qualifying games in the Welsh Open and the World Championships then that would be a good season,” Lee said. “I think that would put me in the top 70 going into next season.

“The first round [of the qualifying] is the most important for points. I am just trying to concentrate on winning the first qualifying game as I feel it is the most important for rankings. The points do not go up so much after the first round until the later stages.”

In his third stint on the professional circuit, Lee is presently ranked 98 in the world, although was 15 spots higher in his first season as professional in 2008.

Following the Welsh Open qualifiers, the Hong Kong trio are also set to play in the Shoot Out in Leicester from January 25 to 28.