Snooker star punches wall twice and gives up on match in huge meltdown | Other | Sport

Stephen Maguire had a furious meltdown during his defeat to Gao Yang in qualifying for this year’s German Masters. The man from Scotland was on the wrong side of a 5-4 scoreline and was nowhere near his brilliant best over the course of the match. He lost his composure during the decisive final frame after making a critical error which ruined his chances of victory.

Yang was on 63 points, with Maguire needing to make up some lost ground on 35 points. After sinking the final red, he was on course to clean up and nick the frame to win the match. However, while on the black before moving onto the colours, he used too much power and ended up potting the cue ball into the far corner pocket.

Rather than watching Yang clean up the colours to win the match, Maguire decided to concede the frame and the match. He approached his rival to shake hands before moving back to his table to collect his things.

It was at this point that Maguire’s fury boiled over, with the 44-year-old throwing two punches at a nearby wall as he made his way back into the locker room.

The angry outburst wasn’t the first time Maguire had let his emotions get the better of him in recent months. He raged at the state of the table after crashing out of the UK Championship in November, having missed a red at a pivotal point against Judd Trump.

Afterwards, he said: “I’m p***ed off. I’m p***ed off with the table. It cost me. It cost me the frame at 3-3 and I think it cost me the match so I’m not very happy.

“He was there for the taking. I was the better player. I should have won. When you play an easy shot into the middle and the white hits the slate and takes off, I nearly missed the red completely, what can you do?

“It’s supposed to be the second biggest tournament in the world. How can you not get the table up to scratch? It’s not a hard job. The table played well apart from that slate, the bags were tight for both of us.

“That match was there for the winning at that point, it was a simple shot. Judd does not know what day it was, you could have asked him and he wouldn’t have known. Through no fault of my own, I’m out of the tournament.

“I thought I had a lot more to give in this tournament. I did have a lot more to give. I feel a bit hard done by, but it’s not sour grapes. I don’t watch matches back, but there’s no way he played better than me there.”

Trump, meanwhile, commented: “That shot at 3-3 when it hit the slate was a big point in the game. If that goes in it’s a completely different game. He would have been 4-3 up.  I can sympathise with him on that one, but I’m pleased it happened.”

In a statement, the WST said: “We always listen to feedback from players and will check any issues raised.”