No world champion from the 1980s will take part in the World Championships at Sheffield next month after Steve Davis was beaten in the final qualifying round by Andy Hicks in Newport last night. Cliff Thorburn, Alex Higgins and Dennis Taylor are all retired, Joe Johnson was knocked out in an earlier round, while Jimmy White exited to Dublin's Michael Judge on Saturday night.
Davis, winner of the World Championship six times in the 1980s, trailed Hicks 6-3 after the first session and went on to lose 10-6.
White, for so long the darling of the Crucible crowd, misses out on an appearance in the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time in his two decades as a professional.
The veteran campaigner lost 10-7 to Judge. It was a crushing blow for White, who has reached the world final on six occasions, but has never quite managed to get his name engraved on the trophy.
"I'm absolutely devastated," he said, "but what can I do? Michael outplayed me from start to finish so I can't take anything away from him." White, who twice in recent years has safely negotiated the final qualifying-hurdle, made a solid start.
Judge took the opener, but White looked to have seized control of the contest when runs of 61 and 123 enabled him to go into the mid-session interval with a 3-1 advantage.
The 38-year-old Londoner could not sustain that pace as Judge reeled off four straight frames to surprisingly move 5-3 ahead. White took the closing frame of a fast-flowing afternoon session, but Judge re-emerged with all guns blazing.
World number 46 Judge, who has never previously qualified for Sheffield, forged into an 8-5 lead, but, White grabbed a lifeline by taking the 14th and 15th frames. But Judge held firm and runs of 52 and 54 proved to be the closing two frames.
While White was bitterly disappointed, Judge - who has twice lost 10-9 on the pink with a trip to the final stages of the championship at stake - was understandably overjoyed.
Judge said: "I knew Jimmy would be feeling it because this was a really big match for him. The pressure was unbelievable out there, but luckily I produced the goods when I needed to."
