Mark Allen extends snooker absence as he withdraws from another big-money event

Mark Allen has withdrawn from another big ranking event due to personal reasons as his lengthy absence from the professional circuit continues.

The 40-year-old has not played since the World Championship in May, where he lost to eventual champion Wu Yize in the semi-finals.

Since then he has missed the non-ranking Shanghai Masters and a string of ranking tournaments: Championship League, China Open, Wuhan Open, British Open and English Open.

The Northern Irishman had already pulled out of the upcoming International Championship and has now also withdrawn from the Shenzhen Open later this month.

He was due to play Ben Mertens on September 28, but the Belgian youngster will get a bye to the last 32.

The Shenzhen Open was previously the Xi’an Grand Prix, won by Mark Williams last season, before a move and new name. It comes with a top prize of £177,000.

As with his other withdrawals, Allen’s absence has been announced as due to ‘personal reasons’ but the nature of these issues has not been revealed.

World Snooker Tour have confirmed that they are in contact with Allen as his absence from the professional game continues.

Allen has said very little during his time away from competition, but he did provide a statement when he pulled out of the China Open and Wuhan Open last month. Tournaments which it is believed he intended to compete in.

‘I am gutted to miss these two events in China and my apologies to the fans and promoters in Taiyuan and Wuhan,’ his statement read.

‘I love playing in China and appreciate the support we always get there, but there are personal reasons why I can’t make it this time. I hope to be back playing in China later this season.’

There was a cryptic social media post during this month’s British Open, as Allen posted a picture of a hooded figure, with Disturbed’s cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence playing over it.

His next chance to play will come at his home event, the Northern Ireland Open, which runs from October 18-25 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

The Pistol has won the tournament twice before and made it to the semi-finals last year.

One of the last things snooker fans saw from Allen before his absence from the game was the dramatic missed black against Wu to reach the Crucible final.

It was one of the more shocking misses in snooker history and cost him a place in a first World Championship final, but Allen spoke out of positives from Sheffield a few weeks on.

He told the BBC in May, weeks after the semi-final: ‘I hadn’t seen my daughter Harley for three weeks and when I picked her up from school, she jumped into my arms and the first thing she said was “how did you miss that black, daddy?”

‘I have been asked a million times since and don’t know what the answer is. It was a shocking miss, but I tried my best and it just didn’t work out on that day.

‘There were positives to take from the two weeks in Sheffield. I know I played well although I was disappointed with how it ended, but it’s the closest I’ve got [to a final] and that’s something I have to take.’