After defeat, the snooker world’s magician angrily criticized the schedule as 'disrespectful'

Shaun Murphy, the 2005 world snooker champion, strongly criticized the Champion of Champions organizers after being told he had to compete in England just hours after returning from China.

Murphy, aged 43, had recently participated in the International Championship in Nanjing, China, where he was knocked out in the quarterfinals by the legendary John Higgins.

Afterward, Murphy and his fiancée Jo began a journey exceeding 36 hours back to England, which included a domestic flight to Beijing, a taxi ride through rush hour traffic, then a flight from Beijing to Dubai, before connecting to Manchester, England.

Without time to rest, while on the plane, Murphy accessed wifi and was surprised to receive notification that he must play at 1 pm on Monday—less than 48 hours after leaving China—in Group 2 of the Champion of Champions held in Leicester, England.

Tired from jet lag and lack of sleep, Murphy lost 1-4 to Scotland Open champion Lei Peifan in his opening match. Immediately after, he publicly expressed his anger live on ITV4:

"I always try to behave professionally and respect this sport. But the way Matchroom treated me at this event is shameful. I only learned I had to play today while in the middle of a 36-hour journey from China—just 48 hours before the match. Meanwhile, three other players like Mark Williams, Mark Allen, and Alfie Burden, who didn’t even compete in China, were scheduled to play later. This is illogical and disrespectful. Such conduct is unacceptable."

Murphy added that he has worked with Matchroom for more than 30 years and has never seen such "unprofessionalism" before.

"I don’t even know where I am, what I’m wearing, or what day it is. And yet they expect me to perform like a world-class player—it’s just too much."

In response to the criticism, Matchroom Sport—the organizer of the Champion of Champions—promptly replied. A Matchroom representative asserted that the groups were arranged based on seed rankings, denying any "manual player selection" as Murphy claimed.

"We spoke with Shaun after the match and fully understand his disappointment. Scheduling is always a yearly challenge, but we are committed to reviewing and improving it going forward. All players are seeded to ensure transparency and fairness," the Matchroom representative said.

The organizers also stated they took into account that two Scottish players, Stephen Maguire and John Higgins, had similarly long travels from China to England.

"Champion of Champions" is a prestigious event gathering the world’s top 16 players, but according to Murphy, "if fairness is neglected, the title loses its original significance."