Nigel Bond

Nigel Bond

Nigel Bond at the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic.
Born (1965-11-15) 15 November 1965
Darley Dale, Derbyshire
Sport country  England
Nickname Basildon
00-147
Professional 1989–
Highest ranking 5 (96/97)
Current ranking 68 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £1,718,075[1]
Highest break 140 (2004 Grand Prix Qualifying)
Century breaks 117[2]
Tournament wins
Ranking 1
Non-ranking 6
Medal record
Men's snooker
Representing  Great Britain
World Games
2009 Kaohsiung Individual
Nigel Bond at the 2013 German Masters

Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965 in Darley Dale, Derbyshire) is an English professional snooker player.

Bond has competed on the main tour since 1989, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996/1997 season. He reached the final of the World Championship in 1995, where he lost 9–18 to Stephen Hendry, and won the 1996 British Open, defeating John Higgins 9–8.

Having reached the final of three other ranking tournaments, Bond won his second professional title at the 2011 Snooker Shoot-Out and, in 2012, defeated Tony Chappel to win the World Seniors Championship. He retained his place in the top 64 until 2015.

Career

He was born in Darley Dale, Derbyshire.

After a strong amateur career,[3] Bond turned professional for the 1989–1990 season. He reached his first ranking semi-final in his first season, and his first final in his second season, but his career peaked in the mid-1990s. In the 1994 World Championships, Bond pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in the event's history, rallying from 9–2 to defeat Cliff Thorburn 10–9 in what would be Thorburn's final appearance at the Crucible. A year later, Bond reached the final after beating Stephen Lee, Alan McManus, Gary Wilkinson and Andy Hicks, but lost to Stephen Hendry 18–9. This was his only semi-final run of the season. As a consequence of reaching the final, he climbed to number 5 in the world rankings for 1996/97, and in that same season he acquired his only ranking tournament victory (after three previous losing finals), the British Open, beating John Higgins 9–8 after needing a snooker in the final frame,[4] winning the World Snooker Association Performance of the Year award for this achievement, although he has failed to maintain this level of performance. He reached at least the quarter finals at the Crucible Theatre every year from 1993 to 1996, losing to Stephen Hendry every time, which added extra spice to their first round match in 2006. After leading comfortably throughout the match Bond was pegged back to 7–7, and the match went to a final frame. With only the black remaining, and 7 points up, Bond clipped it into the left corner pocket, only for the cue ball to go in-off in the right middle pocket, resulting in a respotted black (the first one ever to decide the final frame of a World Championship match), which Bond potted to take frame and match. Final score 10–9, Bond's first win at the Crucible since 1999,[5] and his only last-16 run of that season.[6]

By the end of the 1990s, Bond was out of the top 16, and dropped out of the top 32 for the 2004–2005 season. However, he reclaimed his place a year later, and he has remained there ever since as of 2009. In the 2007 World Championship he lost in the first round, 10–7 to Peter Ebdon.

A run to the last 16 of the 2007 UK Championships,[7] in which he came from 5–7 to win 9–7 against Ken Doherty in the last 32 before losing 9–6 to Ding Junhui in the last 16, was a precursor to his first quarter-final run for 5 years, at the China Open. Victories over David Roe, Stephen Lee and Barry Pinches took him to a meeting with Stephen Maguire, which he lost 5–0.

He opened the 2008/09 season with first-round defeats in the first five tournaments, but victory over Ebdon in the first round of the World Championship ensured that he didn't lose his top 32 status.

On 30 January 2011, Bond won the Snooker Shoot-Out event. This involved the top 64 players in the world playing 10-minute matches decided on a single frame. He picked up the £32,000 prize money as well as the Snooker Shoot-Out trophy, beating Robert Milkins 58–24 in the final.[8]

Bond started the 2011/2012 season very well by qualifying for the first two ranking event tournaments, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters. He lost to Neil Robertson and Mark Selby respectively in the first round.[9] He also qualified for the World Open, but was defeated by amateur player Lu Ning in the wildcard round.[9] Bond finished the season ranked world number 45.[10]

Bond once again qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open in the 2012/2013 season, but lost to Neil Robertson 1–5 in the last 32.[11] In December, he reached the World Open in Haikou, China, with wins over Jimmy White and Jamie Burnett. At the venue he saw off Zhu Yinghui 5–3 in the wildcard round and received a bye through to the last 16 due to the withdrawal of Ali Carter.[11] There he lost 1–5 to Judd Trump.[12] Bond was also crowned World Seniors champion during the season without dropping a frame in a total of seven matches, concluding with a 2–0 victory against Tony Chappel in the final.[13] Bond's season ended when he was beaten 8–10 by Alan McManus in the third round of World Championship Qualifying.[14] He dropped a solitary place during the year to end it ranked world number 46.[15]

Bond reached the final of the World Seniors Championship for the second year in the a row in the 2013/2014 season, losing 2–1 to Steve Davis.[16] He only won two matches at the main venue of ranking events all season, his best run coming in the China Open, where he beat Barry Pinches 5–2 before Mark Selby defeated Bond 5–1 in the last 32.[17] He fell 11 spots from the start of the season to end it as the world number 57.[18]

Bond produced a superb comeback in the second round of the 2014 UK Championship, as from 5–0 down against world number five Barry Hawkins he took six successive frames to advance.[19] However, in the third round Anthony McGill recovered from 4–1 down to eliminate Bond 6–5.[20] The furthest Bond could progress in a ranking event this season was at the Indian Open, where he beat Ryan Day 4–1 and Dechawat Poomjaeng 4–3, before losing 4–1 to Chris Wakelin in the last 16.[21] He just fell outside the top 64 at the end of the year as he was 65th, but Bond earned a two-year extension via the European Order of Merit.[22][23]

At the 2016 Indian Open Bond defeated Ricky Walden 4–1, Sam Baird 4–2, John Astley 4–2 and Peter Ebdon 4–3 to reach his first ranking event semi-final since 2002, where he lost 4–1 to Kyren Wilson.[24] Bond has started practicing at the Snooker Academy in Sheffield with young Chinese players and stated that this has contributed to him regaining the hunger and passion to play snooker.[25]

Personal life

Bond was brought up in Darley Dale, where he attended Churchtown Primary School. Bond is interested in football, supporting Manchester City.[26]

Performance timeline

Tournament 1989/
90		 1990/
91		 1991/
92		 1992/
93		 1993/
94		 1994/
95		 1995/
96		 1996/
97		 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17
UK Championship 1R QF 1R 2R QF 1R QF 3R 2R 2R 4R 6R 1R 1R QF 1R 2R 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R 3R 1R 1R
The Masters LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R 1R SF QF 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A A A A A
World Championship LQ LQ 1R QF QF F SF 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ 2R 1R 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round)
QF advanced to but not past the quarterfinals SF advanced to but not past the semi-finals
F advanced to the final, tournament runner-up W won the tournament
NH event was not held A did not participate in the tournament

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 5 (1 title, 4 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–1)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (1–3)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 1990 Grand Prix Scotland Hendry, StephenStephen Hendry 5–10
Runner-up 2. 1995 World Snooker Championship Scotland Hendry, StephenStephen Hendry 9–18
Runner-up 3. 1995 Thailand Classic England Parrott, JohnJohn Parrott 6–9
Winner 1. 1996 British Open Scotland Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins 9–8
Runner-up 4. 1997 Thailand Open England Ebdon, PeterPeter Ebdon 7–9

Non-ranking wins:(6 titles)

References

  1. ↑ "Career-total Statistics for Nigel Bond – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Profile at globalsnooker.co.uk". Global Snooker. 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  4. ↑ "Profile on WWW Snooker". Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  5. ↑ "Profile on Sporting Life 2007". Sporting Life. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  6. ↑ "Profile on Sporting Life 2006". Sporting Life. 2006. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  7. ↑ "Bond fight back sets up Junhui clash". Matlock Mercury. 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  8. ↑ "Nigel Bond revels in Snooker Shoot-Out win in Blackpool". BBC Sport. 2011-01-31. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
  9. 1 2 "Nigel Bond 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  11. 1 2 "Nigel Bond 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Haikou World Open: Judd Trump beats Nigel Bond 5–1 to reach the quarter-finals". Sky Sports. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  13. ↑ "Nigel Bond wins snooker's World Seniors Championship". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  14. ↑ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  15. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "World Seniors Championship: Steve Davis beats Nigel Bond 2-1 in Portsmouth final". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  17. ↑ "Nigel Bond 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  19. ↑ "Bond – I'll Die Another Day". World Snooker. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Snooker: Tables turned on Nigel Bond as he bows out of UK Championship". Derby Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Nigel Bond 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  23. ↑ "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  24. ↑ "Murphy/McGill/Wilson/Bond Into Semis". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  25. ↑ "Nigel Bond Q&A". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  26. ↑ Profile on World Snooker
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