Nigel Bond
| Name | Date of Birth | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Nigel Bond | 15-11-1965 | England |
Career
After a strong amateur career,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,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,and his only last-16 run of that season.
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.Bond had 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.He would have a losing run of 10 successive matches shortly afterwards, but at the Gibraltar Open he beat five players to reach his second semi-final of the season, where he failed to pick up a frame in a defeat to Shaun Murphy.Bond kept his place on the tour through the one-year ranking list.