Sheffield’s Duffy dismayed after defeat closes off route to York

The 23-year-old had reached the third round of qualifiers, but lost 6-4 to Chinese potter Xiao Guodong at the World Snooker Academy at Sheffield’s English Institute for Sport.

Victory would have set the world No 63 up with a match against Mark King today, the winner’s prize being a place among the 16 qualifying spots for the televised finals at York Barbican next weekend.

Duffy – who won the Paul Hunter Scholarship in 2009 – made his tour debut last season and came close to reaching the final stages of several tournaments but missed out in qualifying. He has suffered in his second season but had started to show his quality this week before slipping to defeat yesterday.

He said: “Played well and lost. Hate this game at times.”

Veteran Steve Davis faces Jamie Burnett this morning in the final qualifying round to reach the Barbican. Yesterday, the six-time world champion beat Indian potter Pankaj Advani 6-5.

Joining Davis in today’s final qualifiers is Jack Lisowski who compiled a 147 – the second maximum of the qualifiers following that of Andy Hicks – as he cruised to a 6-2 win over China’s Chen Zhe.

Lisowski will share the £2,500 bonus from the 147 prize pot for qualifying events, plus a £500 non-TV high break prize, with Hicks. He plays Joe Perry this morning.

Joe Jogia withdrew an appeal against a two-year ban from snooker which was due to take place on Wednesday, the sport’s governing body confirmed yesterday.

The 37-year-old was banned and given a £2,000 fine at a hearing in July into suspicious betting patterns ahead of a Snooker Shoot-out match.

Jogia initially appealed against the finding and the penalty, but the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) confirmed the player had withdrawn his appeal on Monday.

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said: “It is disappointing that Joe chose to go down the route of an appeal that in the view of our legal advisers had no substance to it. This has forced the WPBSA to bear significant legal costs in preparation for the appeal. It is my view that the the action taken by the WPBSA in this case shows a zero tolerance to breaches of the betting rules.”

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