The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Bond eliminates Stephen Hendry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 21, 2006

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Bond eliminates Stephen Hendry

SHEFFIELD: Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry crashed out of the 2006 World championship at the first round stage on Wednesday, losing a cliffhanger of a tie 10-9 to Nigel Bond.

The 40-year-old Englishman squandered a 7-3 lead but recovered to take the match to a decider that built to a dramatic climax.

The world number 26 sank a re-spotted final black to clinch a famous victory having gone in off when potting it first time round.

It meant that a superb fightback from Hendry, the third seed, had been unsuccessful as the man beaten 18-9 by the Scot in the 1995 final gained belated revenge.

Tense frame

The final frame was tense. With Bond 48-41 ahead having just potted blue and pink, he only needed to roll in the black, which was over a top pocket. But in doing so he sent the white ball into a middle pocket, giving Hendry an amazing reprieve after he had already unscrewed his cue.

After a short safety exchange, Bond was given another chance into the middle and he made no mistake to secure a second-round clash with Graeme Dott.

The results (completed matches):

Nigel Bond (Eng) bt Stephen Hendry (Sco) 10-9 (80-43, 26-56, 0-75 (75), 63-46, 6-84, 16-71, 18-62, 16-82 (51), 65-13 (52), 65-66 (65, 66), 56-53, 74-27 (61), 62-41, 79-20 (52), 70-6 (70), 7-103 (52), 74-5, 27-61, 48-55).

Peter Ebdon (Eng) bt Michael Holt (Eng) 10-8 (66-42, 136-0 (94), 95-5 (87), 69-34 (66), 43-61, 17-102 (102), 38-58, 79-1 (79), 37-80 (80), 79-12 (79), 85-1 (84), 54-25, 40-65, 1-81 (72), 42-73, 26-84, 62-18, 65-20).

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