World Championship snooker 2021 - Alan McManus retires from snooker after qualifying defeat
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ByEurosport
Updated 09/04/2021 at 18:21 GMT
The 1994 Masters winner Alan McManus has been relegated from the tour after a 6-3 defeat to Bai Langing in World Championship qualifying and has announced his retirement from the sport after 31 years. The 50-year-old, who has reached three World Championship semi-finals, has decided to hang up his cue.
Alan McManus | Snooker | ESP Player Feature
Image credit: Getty Images
Alan McManus has played his last competitive match of snooker, falling 6-3 to 18-year-old Bai Langning in World Championship qualifying on Friday afternoon.
The result means the Scot, a 2016 semi-finalist at the Crucible, has been relegated from the tour and has decided to call an end to his career.
"You've got to be realistic," he said.
I'm not good enough to compete at any sort of level that I'd like to so there's no reason for me to play on.
He told Betfred post-match: "I made the decision [to retire] before Christmas for quite a lot of reasons.
"Because of Covid and this year has been tough, I'm working at tournaments as well [as a pundit and commentator] so It's taken it's toll. I've not been able to play so there is no point in me playing. I'm pretty happy.
"It's been difficult doing both, playing and doing commentary, I'm 50 as well - 50 is a good old number. It's a young guy's game and you have to face up to that. I don't have a problem with that. That's all fine and well."
After Langning, playing in his first tournament of the year, took the opening frame, McManus raced into a 2-1 lead with breaks of 61 and 66.
Langning responded with a break of 54 before the Scot levelled once more, but momentum swung back the way of the Chinese player.
Langning won the remaining four frames on the spin, kickstarted by fine century, to seal his place in the third qualifying round where he will meet Ben Woollaston after effectively ending McManus' snooker career.
McManus' career highlight was in 1994, when he won a final-frame decider against Stephen Hendry to capture the Masters.
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