Ricky Walden forced into German masters at the last minute on medical grounds

Ricky Walden has been forced to retreat from the German masters ahead of his last 16 clashes with Barry Hawkins on medical grounds.

The 42-year-old had to play Hawk for a place in the quarterfinals on Thursday morning, but will not appear on Tempodrom.

A brief statement from World Snooker Tour read: ‘Ricky Walden has withdrawn from the ongoing Machineseeker German Masters on medical reasons.’

The legendary figure of German snooker Rolf Kalb posted on X: ‘Bad news: Ricky Walden had to be brought to the hospital last night and was therefore forced to retire from #Germasters.’

The nature of Walden’s medical questions has not been confirmed, but the withdrawal will not have been a decision taken easily in front of a big fight against Hawkins.

Walden has not been in a quarterfinals since 2023 Northern Ireland Open and would have been with a chance to do the last eight after wins in Berlin over Ryan Day and Dylan Emery.

The three-time ranking event winner had also seen in good shape on the Championship League last week and picked up victories as Xiao Guodong, Zhou Yuelong, Dave Gilbert, Noppon Saengkham and Joe O’Connor.

After his withdrawal, Hawkins gets a goodbye into the quarterfinals, where he will play either Wu Yize or Alexander Ursenbacher.

Wu and Ursenbacher want Tempodrom for themselves on Thursday morning as a result of the withdrawal.

The afternoon session will see Elliot Slessor Face Xiao Guodong, Anthony McGill Tage at Zhang Anda and Kyren Wilson playing Jak Jones in a new match for last year’s World Cup final.

Thursday night, Judd Trump watches Meeting Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy play Yuan Sijun and Tom Ford take on Aaron Hill.

After beating Zhou Yuelong on Wednesday, Wilson looked forward to meeting Jones again after their Digel -Showpiece last year.

“Jak came back to me in the world finals and I had to fight hard to keep him in check,” the warrior said. “I was under so much pressure in that fight. I had to get the victory and burden by becoming a world champion from my back.

“I’ve been kicking on now. He has also had a good season and created many centuries. I’ll have to play really well. ‘

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