Four-time champion John Higgins has said it is “heart-breaking” to miss his annual visit to snooker’s World Championship for the first time in 25 years, although he understands why the tournament is not taking place because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The championship
was meant to start at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England, on
Saturday, with Higgins—runner-up in the past three editions—one of the
favourites.
But with Britain in
lockdown, snooker has followed major sports worldwide in coming to a
standstill.
There have been
suggestions the championship may take place in July, but in the meantime
Higgins’s bid for a fifth world title remains on hold.
“For the past 25
years I have been getting myself ready at this time to go down to Sheffield,”
Higgins told tournament sponsors Betfred.
“I haven’t missed a
year and that’s more than half of my life,” the 44-year-old Scot added.
“It’s
heart-breaking, but we know there are more important things out there going on.
One day hopefully we’ll be back there competing.”
Higgins, who lost
in the first round of his world championship debut in 1995, took the title in
1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011.
But the past three
years have seen him finish runner-up to Mark Selby, Mark Williams and Judd
Trump.
“I’ve got to take
heart from reaching those finals, it shows I’m doing something right,” Higgins
said.
“I tried my hardest
but just came up against three unbelievable champions.
“If I could win it
again then I will have won it in four different decades. That would be an
incredible achievement but time is running out.
“It will just be
special to play there again. I’ll hopefully be there for a couple of more years
yet, putting my heart and soul into it and maybe giving the fans a bit of
enjoyment.”