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World Snooker
SportHong Kong

World Snooker Tour spot for Hong Kong’s Andy Lee, but will it soon be worthless?

  • Victory over Kurt Maflin is the highlight as he wins tour card at Q School, in his first competitive action since March 2020
  • But funding cuts in Hong Kong will soon threaten Lee’s ability to travel to tournaments around the globe

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Andy Lee is back among snooker’s elite, but funding cuts threaten his ability to stay there for long. Photo: World Snooker Association
Shirley Chui
Hong Kong’s Andy Lee Chun-wai has clinched a place on the World Snooker Tour after two years out of action in which he considered quitting – but he fears funding cuts will leave his hard-won spot almost worthless.

The 41-year-old earned a tour card for the next two years via the Q School event on Saturday, beating 2020 World Championship quarter-finalist Kurt Maflin along the way.

But Lee’s achievement in Sheffield was bittersweet, with his livelihood under threat because of Hong Kong government cuts to public financing of sport – funding that Lee and others rely on to travel to tournaments.

Lee was nonetheless “shocked” after recording six wins to secure his place.

Andy Lee has won a place on snooker’s elite tour for the third time. Photo: WST
Andy Lee has won a place on snooker’s elite tour for the third time. Photo: WST

“It is disbelief and shock,” Lee said. “My last competitive match was against Zhao Xintong at the Gibraltar Open in March 2020. I never returned to the circuit after that.”

The advice to Hong Kong’s players during the Covid-19 pandemic had been not to travel abroad for tournaments, which meant that Lee had not played top-level snooker since then.

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