Stephen Lee (Snooker) – Wikipéd

Stephen Lee
Stephen Lee at the classic Paul Hunter 2011
Identity record
Full Name	Stephen Lee
Nationality	English
Date of birth	October 12, 1974 (48 years old)
Place of birth	Trowbridge
Professional	1992 – 2014
Best ranking	5 It is
Gains	2 062 352 £
Highest break	145
Centuries	184
Tournament victories (by category)
Classified	5
Minor classified	2
Unassembled	2
Last update: March 26, 2020
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Stephen Lee , born the October 12, 1974 In Trowbridge in the county of Wiltshire, is an English snooker player, professional from 1992 to 2014.

Having become a professional in 1992, he joined the Top 16 in the world ranking during the 1997-1998 season before leaving 11 years later after the 2007-2008 season. Lee finds his best level between 2011 and 2012 and reached during the 2012-2013 season the 6 ^{It is} Global place, a place of his best classification reached in 2001. Stephen Lee has 5 victories in classified tournaments. He reached the world championship semi-final in 2003, and the 2008 Masters final, his best result in a triple crown tournament.

The October 12, 2012 , he is suspended by his federation for suspicion of rigged matches. Found guilty in September 2013 to have influenced the result of seven games between 2008 and 2009, he received a twelve year suspension, until October 12, 2024 , the day of his 50 ^{It is} anniversary.

Beginnings (1992-1998) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Lee became professional in 1992 and already produced his first quarter -final in a tournament counting for the ranking, during the European Open. After winning three games, he is dryly beaten by Steve Davis (5-1). Lee reiterates the following year at the Grand Prix, but he was still widely beaten against Davis, winning no round (5-0). He participated in his first world championship in 1995, after getting out of the qualifications. He meets Nigel Bond in the first round and bowed after a disputed meeting (10-8). Lee then joined the world top 32 after a constant 1995-1996 season.

From the following season, he moved to the world’s top 16, partly thanks to two new quarter -finals, the Thailand Open and the European Open. The Englishman continued his progression in 1997-1998, competing in his first semi-final of a classified tournament, on the occasion of the UK championship, being dominated by Ronnie O’Sullivan, 9 rounds at 4. Subsequently , he joined another semi-final, during the Scotland Open, but still bowed against O’Sullivan (6-2). This new regular season allows English to climb the 9 ^{It is} place in the world ranking.

Best years (1998-2003) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Lee is gaining momentum during the 1998-1999 season and won the first classified title of his career at the Grand Prix, at the end of one of the most unbalanced finals in history, facing Marco Fu, then 377 ^{It is} World player. Lee sweeps Hong Kongais on the score of 9 rounds at 2. The rest of the season is very consistent for the English player who is playing four other quarter -finals in tournaments counting for the ranking, including one in the world championship, his first in this tournament. This consistency allows him to progress by three places in the end of the season ranking and therefore to get closer to the world’s top five places. In addition, he is also a finalist at the Irish Open 1999, a tournament by invitation, beaten after the decisive round against Stephen Hendry (9-8).

The following season is again successful by Lee, even if he failed in the final of two classified tournaments; The Wales Open (defeat against John Higgins in the decisive round) and the China Open (defeat against O’Sullivan). Thus, he continues to improve his ranking, culminating in 5 ^{It is} Global place, which remains its best classification ever obtained. In addition, he won the Millennium Cup (tournament by invitation), crushing O’Sullivan, 7 rounds at 2.

Lee slows down somewhat during the 2000-2001 season, not playing any final, which makes him lose a few places in the end of the season. He recovered from the next season and won two new classified tournaments. He was first victorious at the LG Cup against Peter Ebdon, then triumphs over the Scotland Open against David Gray. During this season, Lee played a third final in a classified tournament (Masters of Thailand) but loses this faith, being defeated by Mark Williams (9-4). In addition, he is also semi-finalist at the UK championship for the second time in his career, he was beaten against Ken Doherty. In addition, in the world championship, he qualified for another quarter -final in this tournament, but was eliminated by O’Sullivan.

The next season is not as convincing. However, Lee managed to find the best ranking of his career thanks to a first semi-final in the world championship, his best journey in this competition. He begins by getting rid of Steve Davis in the first round (10-7). He then defeated Jimmy White (13-11). In the quarter-finals, Lee overcome Marco Fu (13-7). However, he passes next to his semi-final since he is widely beaten by Matthew Stevens, 17 rounds at 8.

Small drop in diet (2003-2010) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In line with the previous seasons, Lee obtains slightly less efficient results in the next two seasons, which brings it down instead n ^O 10 in the world ranking. Despite a fourth classified title won on the occasion of Wales open in 2006 (victory against Shaun Murphy in the final, recent winner in the world championship, 9-2), he continues to have poor results in the Main tournaments, which makes it come back down in the standings. It is as 13 ^{It is} World player he joined the final at the Masters of Snooker 2008, his only final in a major tournament. Despite comfortable victories against Peter Ebdon in the quarter-final (6-1) and Marco fu in the semi-final (6-2), he underwent a heavy defeat against Mark Selby, 10 to 3. However, his results in the other tournaments continue to run out of steam and it falls to the 26 ^{It is} world place at the end of the year.

The two seasons arriving are not really different and it continues to revolve around the world top 25.

Return in shape (2010-2012) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Lee au Classique Paul Hunter 2011

Stephen Lee making a blow using restoir (classic Paul Hunter 2012)

Lee seems to find his best level from the 2010-2011 season, when he won the Mius Cup, a minor event in the players’ circuit championship, a new tournament series set up at the start of the season. He won the final against the Scottish Stephen Maguire, 4-2. This victory allows him a qualification for the final event, in which he was beaten in the quarter-finals against Shaun Murphy (4-3). From the following week, he reached a new quarter -final at the China Open, bowing in front of Ding Junhui.

Lee began the 2011-2012 season by appearing in the world top 20, which had not happened to him since 2007-2008. Nevertheless, the English player does not intend to stop on such a good path and has made his most complete season in 2011-2012 for a long time. Author of a good season in the tournaments of the players’ circuit championship, he is one of the players qualified for the final event, as in the previous season. He qualified for his first final for more than five years, a final he won against Neil Robertson to win a fifth and last title classified as a career, inflicting a first defeat on the Australian in the final of a tournament importance ^{[ first ]} . He is also qualified for another final, that of the world open, but undergoes one of the most unbalanced defeats ever recorded; 10-1, facing Mark Allen ^{[ 2 ]} . This season is also marked by two lost semi-finals, at the Masters of Germany and the China Open. All this allows him to return to the very closed circle of the top ten players in the world ^{[ 3 ]} . However, this season is punctuated by a disappointment when it is eliminated in the first round of the world championship against the qualified Andrew Higginson. In addition, he also distinguished himself at the General Cup, where he seized the second unreveoned title in his career.

Lee begins the 2012-2013 exercise on the same line, failing in the final of the first test of the Asian circuit (beaten by Stuart Bingham), then winning the second event (victory on Ding Junhui). However, his momentum is stopped by a twelve -year suspension because he is found guilty of having rigged a match in 2009 (see details in the next paragraph).

Accusations of rigged matches and suspension [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In 2010, Stephen Lee was arrested for suspicions of cheating in a 2009-kingdom championship match, suspicions based on suspicious statements ^{[ 4 ]} . In October 2012 , these charges are abandoned ^{[ 5 ]} . From the following week, Lee was involved in a suspicious match of the first snooker league, at the end of which he was beaten 4-2 by John Higgins after having led 2-1 ^{[ 6 ]} . During this meeting, the two players produce an unusual number of missed blows and bad replacements. During the last round, with two remaining balls on the table, Lee pocketed the pink ball by completely missing his replacement on the black ball, putting himself off-position to pocket this final ball. As of the next time, there is a missing safe that allows Higgins to pocket the ball and win the match.

At the end of the match, Judd Trump questioned the integrity of the meeting via Twitter, a tweet quickly removed. The next day, Lee was suspended after two bookmakers brought back suspicious bets around this match. Higgins, himself suspended in 2010 for suspicions of the same order, is not worried this time. The appeal filed by Stephen Lee to the WPBSA is rejected and its suspension is maintained until the end of the investigation ^{[ 7 ]} . Found guilty September 25, 2013 , Lee is suspended 12 years by his federation ^{[ 8 ]} .

Securities [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Lost finals [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

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