9.1.08

ROBIN HULL RETIRES

Robin Hull, Finland's only professional, has resigned his membership of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and has therefore brought his pro career to an end.

Hull, 33, has been dogged with health problems for the last few years. He suffered from a virus so debilitating that he found it hard to walk in a straight line.

He is also suffering from an irregular heartbeat and the combined health issues have caused him to put his cue away for good.

This is a great shame. Hull was a very talented player whose illness came about at exactly the time he was starting to make a breakthrough.

He won 28 matches during the 2001/02 season which culminated in him beating Steve Davis to qualify for the Crucible where Graeme Dott beat him in the first round.

Hull joined the top 32 in the rankings at 32nd but his position declined as the virus forced him to pull out of several tournaments.

He appeared to have made a recovery when only last season he beat Neil Robertson - fresh from winning the Grand Prix - in the Maplin UK Championship.

He then spoke of his ordeal, saying: “I had to have similar physiotherapy to that given to stroke victims and I still have numbness on my right side.

“There was a time when I couldn’t go out of a room. My confidence was badly damaged because I couldn’t do a simple thing like walking to a bus stop without feeling very ill and dizzy.

“My neurologist tried to keep me positive but it was very frightening as you tend to fear the worst.

“In any walk of life it would be a terrible thing, but for a snooker player it was a nightmare. I couldn’t get down to the table to play a shot without being physically sick.”

Despite signs he was over the worst of it, Hull pulled out of the 888.com World Championship qualifiers a few weeks after beating Robertson and has been similarly affected this season, missing out on the UK Championship.

Hull famously missed the black on 140 with a maximum waiting in the 1999 World Championship qualifiers.

His best performances in ranking events were quarter-final appearances in the 2003 Welsh Open and 2006 Malta Cup.

We here at Snooker Scene send our sympathies to him that he has been forced to retire through no fault of his own and wish him all the best for the future.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is very sad indeed.
At least he has the cheque from the benevolent fund to look forward to!
Des

Anonymous said...

I think this is a shame too, I remember when he qualified for the Crucible and it was a great achievement. Best wishes and most importantly good health for him in the future.

Craig

Anonymous said...

Hear Hear!

Anonymous said...

Only just saw this now. Have a strange obsession with Finnish sports stars (Jari Litmanen is my hero) and had followed his career as best as i could.

The first thing to say is that he was a really talented snooker player, who could have achieved a lot more with a bit of luck.

Sad stuff.

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