Stephen Lee has refused to rule out a snooker comeback after his lengthy ban ends in 2024.
The former world number five still has two years remaining on his unprecedented 12-year ban from the sport, which is set to end on his 50th birthday.
After initially being suspended in 2012 amid a cloud of suspicion, Lee was eventually found guilty of match fixing in 2014 after an investigation and still owes snooker authorities £125,000 in fees.
At the time of his suspension, the Englishman was regarded as one of the best players in the world and had won his fifth ranking title only a few months earlier.
Since then, there has been constant curiosity from fans whether we will see the return of a player once labelled as boasting the silkiest cue action in the game.
“I must get asked this weekly, daily, minutely,” Stephen Lee said on the possibility of a comeback, as reported by Hector Nunns for the The Mirror.
“I would like to say no, but I am still capable of playing. Let’s see what happens in two years. It’s not a no, and not a yes.”
“We can only just see what happens in a couple of years’ time. I have some exciting things coming up, and I’m also getting older.
“My eyes are getting worse, and I never had good eyes to start with. As you get older the determination and the goes.”
Interestingly, Stephen’s son Alfie has become one of the most hyped young amateurs in the game of recent times.
And on his father’s 48th birthday on Wednesday, Alfie Lee prevailed in Week 4 of the new 900 Series at the Crucible Club in Reading.
The younger Lee beat Mark Gray, Wayne Townsend, and Aiden Owens in the quickfire amateur tournament that has been launched by promoter Jason Francis this season.
Lee will feature in the Grand Finals of the 900 next month, with Andrew Norman, Aaron Canavan, and Andrew Higginson having also already qualified.
Alfie said: “I’ve always known that I’ve got tremendous amounts of self-belief and a lot of character.”
“I’ve got a tremendous practice partner in my dad. When I come to tournament, I do fancy myself – at tournaments, some people fear the last name, and I don’t.”
Featured photo credit: Monique Limbos
he should have never been banned that long if at all, should have been back playing years ago like higgins, who was guilty
Higgins’ alleged crime of agreeing to fix a match wasn’t quite as severe an offence and he was cleared of it at a tribunal. Lee committed several fixing offences that could’ve resulted to a life ban in some sports. I’d doubt he’d be able to pay off £125,000 pounds in legal fees.
Lee has 2 years to go but it equates to 3 seasons as he will miss the qualifying window for the third year