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August 5, 2020

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Home » Sports » Snooker

Ex-world champion Murphy upset by Thai outsider

Source: Shanghai Daily | 00:00 UTC+8 August 5, 2020 | Print Edition

Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham pulled off the biggest upset so far at the world championships by ousting 2005 champion Shaun Murphy in the first round in Sheffield yesterday.

Saengkham — ranked 42 in the world — beat 10th-seeded Murphy 10 frames to 4 to book a second-round meeting with either three-time champion Mark Selby or Jordan Brown. Murphy refused to put his under-par performance down to the death last month of his close friend and former manager Brandon Parker. “I came here wanting to honor Brandon’s memory as well as I could,” said Murphy. “You dream of winning the title and dedicating it to him. But I would never dishonor him by saying that has caused me a problem. This is just a snooker tournament. I tried my absolute best, and I lost.” Murphy, 37, had been in fine fettle prior to the coronavirus lockdown, winning two ranking events in a season for the first time in his career. However, the 2015 world finalist had little answer to his 28-year-old Thai opponent, who had lost in the first round on his only previous appearance at the Crucible Theatre. Saengkham had led 6-3 overnight.

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