Snooker legend Stephen Hendry is accused of cultural stereotyping and comparing Chinese players to robots when he says they suffer 'system failures' during TV final

  • Hendry said Chinese players suffer 'system failure' when something goes wrong 
  • Made the comments during the 15th frame of Sunday night's thrilling final 
  • Bingtao went on to win 10-8 to be crowned the youngest Masters champion 

By Isabella Nikolic For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Snooker legend Stephen Hendry has been accused of cultural stereotyping after he said Chinese players were prone to 'system failures'.   

The seven-time world snooker champion blurted out the remarks while commentating for the BBC on Yan Bingtao's historic Masters win over John Higgins.

During the 15th frame of Sunday night's thrilling final, 20-year-old Bingtao missed a relatively easy pot, leaving Hendry bemused.

The exasperated Scot, who retired from the sport in 2012, said: 'It's amazing.

'You watch the Chinese players, they play so much together in the clubs in Sheffield, hours and hours and hours and when something goes wrong it's almost as if they don't know what's happened, it's like a system failure.'

Stephen Hendry blurted out the remarks while commentating for the BBC on Yan Bingtao's (pictured) historic Masters win over John Higgins

Stephen Hendry blurted out the remarks while commentating for the BBC on Yan Bingtao's (pictured) historic Masters win over John Higgins 

Bingtao went on to win 10-8 to be crowned the youngest Masters champion since Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1995 who also beat Higgins by the same score.

Fans expressed their distaste at Hendry's comments who made them while commentating alongside John Virgo.

David Howell, 35, of Darlington, said: 'It was a hell of a final, a proper slug fest between the old pro Higgins and the youngster Bingtao.

During the 15th frame of Sunday night's thrilling final, 20-year-old Bingtao missed a relatively easy pot, leaving Hendry bemused

During the 15th frame of Sunday night's thrilling final, 20-year-old Bingtao missed a relatively easy pot, leaving Hendry bemused

'Bingtao seemed to have the edge but made daft mistakes. When he missed the pot in the 15th frame it looked bad for him but I was really taken aback by what Hendry said.

'Hendry seemed to be saying that Chinese players were so robotic they didn't know how to handle mistakes.

'To say that Chinese players suffer a 'system failure' was a clumsy thing to say and wasn't fair on Bingtao who did battle back from his errors.'

Writing on Facebook, Anthony Thomas wrote: 'Really loved Hendry as a player, a magician at the table, and his commentary up to that point was spot on.

'Shame he let himself down with a needless comment about 'system failures' in Chinese players. Was he saying they all play the same way like robots?

'Smacks of cultural stereotyping to me.'

Other fans called on 52-year-old Hendry, who is due to make his snooker comeback next month at the Welsh Open, to apologise for his comments.

Michelle Cooper, of Whitby, North Yorkshire, said: 'Stephen Hendry is one of my favourite all time players but he should apologise for what he said about Chinese players malfunctioning under pressure.

Hendry said: 'You watch the Chinese players, they play so much together in the clubs in Sheffield, hours and hours and hours and when something goes wrong it's almost as if they don't know what's happened, it's like a system failure'

Hendry said: 'You watch the Chinese players, they play so much together in the clubs in Sheffield, hours and hours and hours and when something goes wrong it's almost as if they don't know what's happened, it's like a system failure'

'The game is huge in China and we're lucky to have so many exciting young players coming through.

'I don't think there is anything remotely robotic or predictable about the Chinese players.

'If you want to see system failures, just watch some of the matches from the 1970s, with the exception of Alex Higgins, they were deathly dull.'

Meanwhile fans also criticised the BBC's coverage of the final.

One wrote on Twitter: 'Someone tell John Virgo to shut up. Trying to enjoy the snooker and he's dribbling on.'

Another added: 'Please get rid of Virgo and put a decent commentator on the box. He'll ruin it as usual.'

'Can somebody just let me know how old Yan Bingtao is please? It's only been mentioned every couple of minutes. '

'Is he still 20? I much prefer Eurosport, it does avoid Virgo.' 

The BBC has been contacted for comment.  

BBC

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