Hong Kong’s Marco Fu pulls out of World Championship citing coronavirus concerns
- Hong Kong No 1 Marco Fu will not compete at the Sheffield showpiece
- The 42-year-old tweets that he ‘feels unsafe’ about travelling to the UK
Fu tweeted on Thursday that he had pulled out of the July 31-August 16 tournament.
After dropping out of the world’s top 16 players, Fu would have been required to travel to the UK early to participate in the July 21-28 qualifying event at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield. The UK’s current lockdown measures mean anyone who enters the country from abroad must self-isolate for 14 days.
The UK is currently among the worst coronavirus-affected countries in Europe with a reported 300,500 cases so far. Despite the country beginning the early phases of a return to normal in recent weeks, authorities there reported a further 135 Covid 19-related deaths on Thursday. So far there have been 42,288 deaths in the UK.
Hong Kong-based Fu hasn’t competed on the tour since an opening round defeat to China’s Ding Junhui at the Welsh Open back in February.
