Cliff Thorburn, 73, retires from competitive snooker after defeat to Kuldesh Johal at UK Seniors Championship
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Updated 05/01/2022 at 18:35 GMT
Former world No 1 Cliff Thorburn, who beat Alex Higgins in the 1980 World Championship final, has played his final competitive snooker match at the age of 73. Thorburn was beaten 3-0 by Kuldesh Johal. Stream the Masters and other top snooker live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
Cliff Thorburn
Image credit: Getty Images
Cliff Thorburn signed off from snooker with defeat to Kuldesh Johal in the first round of the UK Seniors Championship.
The 1980 world champion, who made the first 147 break at the Crucible in 1983, was beaten 3-0 by Johal, 32 years his junior.
Former world No 1 Thorburn, who was runner-up in two other World Championships, had said this will be his final competitive event.
His highest break during the match was 15 while Johal managed a 47. Johal won the opening frame 94-1 and took the second by a comfortable margin too.
Even though Thorburn potted more balls in the third frame he couldn’t avoid a 3-0 loss.
"Everybody knew where I came from, what I stood for, and the values I had," said the Canadian afterwards. "I just loved the game. It's so dear to my heart that I didn't want to go to sleep at night, I wanted to stay in the club all day long."
Eurosport's own Joe Johnson won the last two frames to beat Rod Lawler 3-2.
Lawler made a 71 break in the opening frame and soon moved into a 2-1 lead. But Johnson levelled after edging the fourth frame 47-45 and then won the decider.
Stephen Hendry is the star attraction in the evening session, with Barry Pinches in opposition.
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Stream the Masters and other top snooker live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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