Marco Fu knocked out of Crucible by China’s Lyu Haotian but hints of a comeback despite his eye problem
Hong Kong star’s career is under threat over retinal issues but told fans ‘see you all next season’ after losing 10-5 in the World Championship first round
Hong Kong’s Marco Fu Ka-chun, who is yet to recover fully from eye surgery, hinted that his career was far from over even after he was knocked out in the first round of snooker’s World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield, England.
The 40-year-old Fu was beaten 10-5 by China’s 20-year-old prodigy Lyu Haotian on Monday (Hong Kong time) in his first tournament since surgery to correct a problem in his left eye.
Fu later tweeted the hashtag #seeyouallnextseason, suggesting that he was hoping to make a full recovery and was trying to return to the world’s top 10.
He tweeted: “Not quite feeling 100% this year but it’s still great to be back at the Crucible! All the best to Lyu Haotian, what a talent. #seeyouallnextseason.”
Earlier this year, Fu revealed that he had suffered retinal degeneration and myodesopsia – which causes spots and specks to appear in his vision – in his left eye and underwent surgery in Hong Kong in December.
The world No 11 said he would put his career on hold until he had fully recovered from his condition but the lure of once again playing at the Crucible proved too much to resist, even though his was without form going into the tournament.
Fu, who trailed 6-3 after the first session, was full of praise for Lyu, who entered the first round proper through the qualifying tournament.
“Lyu was superb and potted a lot of long balls,” Fu was quoted as saying. “He rose to the occasion and played even better here than in the qualifiers.
“It is a good sign, top players rise to the big occasions and I lost to the better player.”
Fu reached a career-high ranking of five in June, 2017 and the previous year won the Scottish Open for his third ranking title while also reaching the World Championship semi-finals for the second time.
He said in February that the surgery healed his retinal problem but he needed to take great care to ensure it does not deteriorate into retinal detachment. He also said that he saw black spots from his left eye under strong light.
