On April 8, Beijing time, in the second round of the snooker World Championship qualification round, the 57-year-old veteran Nigel Bond lost 1-6 to German youngster Klecks, which means that his world ranking at the end of the season was fixed outside 64, forced to relegate, and lost the professional qualification for the next season. Prior to this, Bond had publicly stated that if he was relegated at the end of the season, he would no longer compete for professional qualifications through Q-school or other channels, and today, he announced his retirement through WST, and the veteran artist who waved goodbye to the sport in the 33rd year of his career.
In November 1965, three years after the birth of the first 007 series of films, Nigel Bond was born in Derbyshire, England. Bond's career started a little late, he tried to be an accountant, but he was obviously able to realize that it was not the best job for him, so in 1988, at the age of 23, Bond signed up for the professional ticket series and became a professional snooker player, competing with Joe Johnson, Steve Davis and other celebrities. Very fortunately, he not only won 5-0 in his first game after regularization, but even scored a 105 point, when Bond, who was young but looked like a little old man, must have been full of joy and expectation.
The 1989/90 season followed, there were not many professional events for Bond to play, including some non-ranking events, but it must have been a memorable season for Bond, when he won as many as two or even three rounds of qualifying for the Grand Prix, the Hong Kong Open and the Dubai Classic at the beginning of the season, and then the British Championship qualifiers, the first time he beat Sinclair and Merton McLeod, and in the third round, he first played Jimmy White, losing 3-9. In the same year's International Open, Bond broke out for the first time, beating six people in a row, including Cliff Samborn and John Parot, to reach the semi-finals of the ranking tournament for the first time. Against the fierce Hendry, Bond even took the lead 5-4 to reach the match point, but in the end he still lost 5-6 and missed the final.
Since then, Bond has officially emerged, just as the 007 series of movies swept the world for more than the next three decades, "007" Bond devoted himself to the snooker movement for the next thirty years, in the old Davis and Hendry two generations of football kings "survive", he is not the kind of player that every fan knows, but most of the time, it is difficult to ignore his presence.
At the 1990 World Championships, Hendry beat Jimmy White 18-12 in the final, kicking off a love affair, and Bond broke in the fifth round of the qualifiers and missed Crucible Castle, but fortunately, at the 1990 European Open, Bond ended the season with a remarkable quarterfinals.
Thankfully, at the 1993 World Championships soon after, Bond managed to be a seed and shined the following year. It was 1994, the first round of the World Championships, Bond against the legendary Cliff Samborn, in the first half of the game, Mulberry blasted a single shot 139 points high score, 9-2 to reach the match point, almost in advance of the celebration but in the second half he ushered in Bond's super counterattack, in the absence of a 50+, Bond won 8 consecutive sets, 10-9 completed perhaps the most difficult reversal of Crucible so far, still talked about. Of course, he lost 7-13 to Hendry in the quarter-finals, who once again beat Jimmy White 18-5 in the final. Some people won the third world championship title, some people won the third place in the world championship, and some people were excited to sleep all night for a quarter-finalist.
In 1995, Bond was already a six-year veteran, and some childish faces began to appear in the professional arena, Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, or Stephen Lee. In the first round of the World Championships, Bond defeated Stephen Lee 10-8, followed by consecutive victories over McManus and Andy Hicks to reach the final of the World Championship for the first time, and his opponent was so frightening - since Bond turned professional, the World Championship title was almost won by this person, Stephen Hendry, just like he destroyed Jimmy White before, Hendry won his fifth World Championship title 18-9 with a horrific performance of 3 shots and 14 strokes 50+. At that time, Bond was frustrated and would not think that it was the only World Championship final in his life?
But his career was still exciting, with Bond narrowly beating John Higgins 9-8 in the final at the 1996 British Open, winning the first ranking title in the true sense of the word and reaching the final four at the World Championships that same year, despite another big score against Hendry. From 1996 to 1997, Bond won the Malta Grand Prix and the Scottish Masters two invitational championships, and was also a regular in the ranking rounds of four and quarter-finals, it can be said that 1995-1997 was Nigel Bond's "golden three years", and then, his ranking fell out of the top 16, he witnessed the "75 three masters" win again and again in large and small competitions, he was a surprise reversal in the case of 0-5 behind Hawkins at the 2014 British Championships, and he made a comeback after four relegations. In this way, he played his own role in the professional competition.
In the list of the quarterfinals of the 2019 British Championship, Nigel Bond's name has been unfamiliar to many young fans, but looking at his record, the first round of 3-5 behind Brechel finally reversed 6-5, the second round of 5-2 lead after Hayscot 6-5 difficult to win, the third round even 6-3 upset defeated the newly crowned world champion Trump, and then in the 2-5 behind Gary Wilson 6-5 win, his eight round of eight is more difficult than anyone. So the story of the reversal of Kuwamoto at the 1994 World Championships was known to more people, so the spirit of "007" inspired a new generation, although unfortunately, in the quarterfinals, he lost to Mark Allen in the decisive battle he was proud of, stopping in the quarterfinals.
Looking back at the 2019 British Championships, you will find that next to Ding Junhui's incomparable light, a veteran used all his strength to complete almost the last shining of his career, the light was a little faint, but it did not fade for a long time. Looking back at Bond's 33 years, he was not much luckier than Jimmy White, who was injured by Hendry again and again at the World Championships, Bond's career was long enough to run through the peak of the "Emperor of Billiards" and the "75 Three Masters", and also witnessed the vigorous development of the snooker sport.
Today, salute the veterans!