AlamyKyren Wilson was forced from the arena with a nosebleed during his loss to Ding Junjui[/caption]
AlamyThe Chinese star took full advantage of the chaos to win the quarter-final 10-5[/caption]
Wilson needed medical attention after the unexpected health issue twice caused the contest to be suspended.
Play was halted for 30 minutes as the 33-year-old was treated backstage by medics.
He returned to the table, only for his nose to start dripping blood again.
Wilson was heard to quip: “I thought there was a red over the pocket.”
But he later admitted to ITV: “It was a nightmare.
“I think it was just exhaustion.”
Wilson is no stranger to nosebleeds during matches, with the Kettering star suffering a bleed during his 2018 World Championship semi-final against John Higgins.
The stoppage on Thursday came at the worst possible time for Wilson, who already trailed 6-1.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
He returned to the baize after the enforced break but missed a long red.
Ding took full advantage and cleared the table with a break of 80 to go 7-1 up.
Despite later threatening a comeback from 8-1 down, Wilson eventually lost the quarter-final contest 10-5.
He added: “I went deep in the Players Championship and then had three back-to-back exhibitions after that.
“In hindsight it is probably a good thing [I’ve been knocked out].
“It’ll give me two weeks to knuckle down and get a bit of rest and get ready for the World Championships.”
Snooker’s elite are preparing to head to the Crucible later this month for the World Championship.
1 day agoViral XComments Off on Full list of shops closing down in Scotland so far in 2025 revealed – including Morrisons, Homebase and WHSmith
LAST year was a tough one for Scotland’s high street, and the retail pain has continued in 2025 with several stores and food outlets already shutting their doors for good.
Many big-name brands and smaller business owners have been forced to pull the shutters down for good amid continuously rising costs.
GettySeveral big-name brands have closed some Scottish branches this year[/caption]
AlamyThirteen Homebase stores across the UK launched closing down sales in January[/caption]
Tom FarmerHomestore and More has also revealed that all Scottish branches are closing[/caption]
The brand is Ireland’s leading independent homeware retailer and has two branches in the UK, both of which are located in Scotland.
One is located in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, and the other at Craigleith Retail Park, in Edinburgh.
It is understood that all members of staff have been redundant as a result of the closures and are being looked after by the team in Ireland.
A source told the Scottish Sun that the chain brought its products in from Ireland, but this “wasn’t viable” in the long term, adding that this led to the shops “not making enough profit”, partially leading to the closure.
The global sports brand closed a Scottish store back in February
The UK’s fifth-largest supermarket confirmed it will axe several in-store services as well.
The retailer said 18 market kitchens, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies will shut.
The shake-up, which will be rolled out in the coming months, was said to “reinvigorate” the supermarket and allow it to invest in other areas of the business.
Rami Baitiéh, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “Although these changes are relatively small in the context of the overall scale of the Morrisons business, we do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues. We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.”
Around 30 members of staff were left facing redundancy after the retailer failed to secure a new lease agreement.
A Nike spokesperson said: “We constantly evaluate our store locations to give us the best opportunity to personally connect with consumers through premium products, experiences, and services.
“As part of this retail strategy, the Nike Craigleith Store will close on January 26.”
GettyA Scottish Poundland store will close next week[/caption]
The shop will pull the shutters down for the final time on Saturday, April 12 and the firm is working to find new positions for affected staff.
A spokesperson said: “It’s correct we’re sadly closing our Meadowbank store at Moray Park on 12 April because our lease has come to an end.
“We know how disappointing this will be to customers and colleagues.”
AlamyQuiz is closing down stores after tumbling into insolvency[/caption]
Quiz
Several Quiz stores in Scotland are set to close down for good after the company announced a total of 23 branches would be shutting across the UK and Ireland.
Stores in Dundee, Falkirk, Glasgow and Motherwell will all be hit by closures.
Sheraz Ramzan, CEO of Quiz said: “The Board took the difficult decision to appoint administrators to Zandra Retail Limited in light of the continuing challenging trading conditions impacting the Group’s performance.”
A Sports Direct shop in Scotland launched a huge closing-down saleGetty
The retailer’s branch in Invergordon, in the Highlands, pulled the shutters down for the final time on Friday, February 28, with signs appearing on the shop windows informing customers.
It comes after bosses at The Original Factory Shop closed ten of its branches for good in the last year.
Back in December, the firm called in Teneo, a strategic advisory firm, to explore all options, which included another attempt to flog the chain.
This could see further branches being closed or even a company restructuring.
GettyWHSmith is set to disappear from Scotland’s high street[/caption]
WHSmith
WHSmith is set to disappear from Scotland’s high streets after hundreds of years.
The £76m deal saw the stores sold to retail investor Modella Capital and will soon be rebranding the shops to TGJones.
WHSmith already confirmed plans to shut up to 20 stores by this May, and the shake-up means up to 60 Scottish stores could be under threat.
Carl Cowling, Group Chief Executive, commented: “High Street is a good business; it is profitable and cash-generative with an experienced and high-performing management team.
“However, given our rapid international growth, now is the right time for a new owner to take the High Street business forward and for the WHSmith leadership team to focus exclusively on our Travel business. I wish the High Street team every success.”
STORE OPENINGS
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the high street – some retailers have opened brand new stores across the country despite the current retail pain.
Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow has seen a flurry of new shops opening since the start of 2025.
The well-known fashion brand is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch and has over 500 stores worldwide
Why are retailers closing stores?
Retailers have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
After years of fans calling for its arrival, the lifestyle retailer finally brings its iconic range of affordable and trendy products to Edinburgh’s Princes Street.
And the firm’s boss revealed that more Scottish stores will be opening this year.
The family-owned business will occupy the former Peter Vardy CARZ showroom just off the M8 motorway in the Hillington area of the city amid huge expansion plans.
Last year, the brand hinted at plans for a “greater local presence” after introducing drop-off points at two Tesco car parks in Tayside: Dundee and Perth.
The planning application was submitted to Dundee City Council at the end of February.
1 day agoViral XComments Off on Jennifer Lopez and Child Emme Step Out in Coordinating Looks to Support Her Out Of Sight Costar George Clooney on Broadway
Jennifer Lopez and her teenager, Emme Maribel Muñiz, 17, certainly had a good night on Broadway. The two look smoothly ...
1 day agoViral XComments Off on I almost played with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in MLS, but League of Ireland under Ollie Horgan has proven worthwhile
JEANNOT ESUA was almost Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s team-mate and later snubbed a meeting with Ollie Horgan.
But he could not avoid football’s big characters forever and after making it to Galway United last year, he quickly felt at home.
Esua has established himself as a key cog ever since first arriving on the west coast of IrelandGettyThe Swedish icon lined out for AC Milan, Inter Milan, PSG, Juventus, Barcelona and Man United across his career[/caption]
The right-back, 28, told SunSport: “Galway is similar to Cameroon in terms of the rain.
“In Cameroon we have two seasons, a wet season and a dry season.”
Galway people will tell you that just one day there can often take in all four seasons in quick succession — but Esua quickly found the city and the club to his liking following his move in 2024.
And having made a late push for Europe last season, John Caulfield’s United sit second in the table as they prepare to welcome Shamrock Rovers to Eamonn Deacy Park tonight.
Esua has been a key part of that, having shown why he was previously close to linking up with Swedish icon Ibrahimovic.
Highly rated in Cameroon as a teenager, only injury stopped him moving to Sporting Braga in Portugal when he was 17.
But having impressed for Rainbow Bamenda in his homeland, in 2017 he got a move to the USA with Orange County and an offer to join Ibrahimovic at LA Galaxy.
But Esua revealed: “An agent wasn’t happy with the offer so I ended up going back to Cameroon, which was disappointing.
“I played a year, reached the cup final and then I moved to Canada with FC Edmonton.”
Having had a dream move to Europe and then a chance to play with one of the game’s greats dashed in quick succession, Esua could be forgiven for dwelling on the what-ifs.
But he instead lit up the Canadian League to ensure he got the move to Europe he craved, joining Finnish outfit PEPO and then EIF.
He said: “I had offers to stay in Canada but I knew the league. I’d just turned 25 and wanted to go to Europe.
“My career has had ups and downs but I was always grateful for what I had.
“Try not to worry about the past and focus on the future. So Finland was a challenge.”
It worked well as he helped EIF to promotion, alerting Sligo Rovers, Waterford and Galway to his availability ahead of last season.
But the Tribe were at the front of the queue, even if Esua only became aware of how keen they were to sign him after he moved.
He said: “My agent told me there were three clubs interested. I had no clue about the league at the time.
“He said that someone was going to come and watch me but he never told me who or what game they would come to watch.
“It ended up being the game where we won promotion with three games to go. Someone from Galway was there to watch me.
“I was asked could I get a train to Helsinki to meet them afterwards but I said no.
“Although it was just 20 minutes by train, there was no later train — it was only later I found out it was Ollie!”
SNAPPED UP
Assistant boss Horgan had seen enough and he and Cauflield made their move to bring Esua to Eamonn Deacy Park, where he made 28 appearances last year despite injuries.
And he has played every minute this term as Caulfield’s men have pushed up the table.
Esua added: “Before the start of the season, there was a lot of speculation about Galway not doing so well this year.
“We’ve shown the way things are going, everyone just wanted to prove people wrong.
“But we’re only focused on it game by game, we’re not thinking of the outside noise.”
