Steve Davis stumbled in the final qualifying round of the Embassy World Championship for the second straight year when he lost 10-8 to Robin Hull in Newport last night. The 44-year-old was bitterly disappointed to not be one of the 32 players fighting it out for the £260,000 first prize in Sheffield next month.
"Of course I'm down but at least I gave it a good go and I don't regard this as a failure," said Davis, whose hopes of re-entering the elite top 16 in the world rankings next season have now been all but extinguished. "For most of the day I didn't feel I was on the table. It was an uphill struggle from the word go. But towards the end I started to fancy the job, and that's what's most frustrating."
Davis rallied from 4-1 and 5-2 adrift to trail only 5-4 after the first session but was left in Hull's wake as the ex-world junior champion from Helsinki struck a purple patch in sprinting away from 5-5 to 9-5. It is only the second time in 24 years that Davis will not compete at the Crucible. He was also shunted to the sidelines last year following a 10-6 final qualifying round defeat at the hands of Andy Hicks.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
