Six-time world snooker champion Steve Davis retires

LONDON: Six-time world snooker champion Steve Davis announced his retirement from the sport on Sunday.

The 58-year-old Englishman lost to Fergal O'Brien in the first round of qualifying for this year's World Championship and later decided that would be his final competitive match.

"That was my last match as a professional," Davis told the BBC. "So I'm calling it a day.

"I phoned up Barry (Hearn, his long-time manager) and told him it was on my mind to enter the World Championship and make that the last. I said, 'Barry, I think it's time to retire from professional snooker'.

"And he said, 'Steve, you retired 10 years ago we just didn't have the heart to tell you'," added Davis, who won the last of his world titles in 1989.

Sunday saw Davis take a bow in front of spectators at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England, the venue for all his world title successes and where this year's edition is ongoing, with the World Championship trophy.

Davis said the death of his father Bill, who introduced him to snooker, in March had helped confirm his decision to retire after several years without a major trophy.

"And my father wasn't very well. So I entered, for him, this year's World Championship. He was still alive when I entered, then he passed away so I played the match against Fergal. That was the only match I ever played without him."

Davis' six World Championships in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1989 were among 28 titles he won in a stellar career.

Yet he will be just as well-remembered by many sports fans, rather than snooker die-hards, for a final frame defeat off the very last black by Dennis Taylor in the 1985 World Championship final - a match that drew a record television audience of 18.5 million viewers.

Reflecting on a career that started in 1978, he added: "The first match I remember as a professional was in Pot Black, against Fred Davis on television, and I potted a ball down the cushion.