England’s Shaun Murphy secured the World Championship title in 2005.
Shaun Murphy has levied strong criticism against snooker promoters Matchroom, denouncing their treatment as “despicable” concerning the scheduling of his match at the Champion of Champions tournament.
Murphy, currently ranked ninth in the world, suffered a 4-1 defeat against Lei Peifan of China in the 16-player invitational knockout held at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena.
The 43-year-old Englishman expressed his discontent at being scheduled to play the opening game of the non-ranking event, particularly after his recent return from the International Championship in China, where he reached the quarter-finals.
Murphy stated that he was asked to play first in the Champion of Champions despite enduring a “marathon 36-hour journey” back to the UK, even though the promoters “hand pick the draw”.
“For me to be thrown out first is nothing short of despicable, and I think they have covered themselves in a huge embarrassment by treating me with such disrespect,” Murphy told ITV.
“I always pride myself on conducting myself as professionally as I can, [and] try to treat the game with an incredible amount of respect.”
“There are three other players in this tournament who weren’t even in China last week. The way I have been treated by Matchroom in this tournament is nothing short of despicable.”
In response, Matchroom stated that they spoke with Murphy following the match and “share his frustrations”.
A statement read: “Our priorities are the players, we take pride in the fact they consider this event prestigious and want to prepare for it.”
“For transparency and fairness, the groups [for the draw] are based on seeding. Scheduling is always a challenge every year, but we take on board the points and always strive to improve for next year and the future.”
Lei, ranked 31st globally, established an early two-frame advantage before Murphy narrowed the gap.
However, Lei responded with a break of 61 to secure the fourth frame, with Murphy unable to mount a comeback in the fifth.
In other news, England’s Judd Trump secured his place in the quarter-finals with a 4-1 victory over Bai Yulu of China.
Bai, the reigning women’s world champion, aged 22, won the opening frame in the first-ever encounter between the two players.
But Trump, the men’s world number one, maintained his composure to win the subsequent two frames with breaks of 84 and 71, thereby securing a quarter-final match against Murphy’s conqueror, Lei.