Steve Lemmens (September 8, 1972 – October 11, 2016) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

former professional snooker player who played on the main tour between 1991 and 1995.

Career

Lemmens first burst onto the snooker scene in his home country when at the age of 16 he reached the finals of the Belgian Amateur Championship, a record that would not be beaten until 2010 by

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made h ...

. Three years later in 1990 he won the Belgian Championship after defeating five-time champion Mario Lannoye 7–2 in the final, as a result Lemmens went on to represent Belgium in the 1990 World Amateur Championship where he reached the final eventually losing 11–8 to Irishman Stephen O'Connor. Following on from this success Lemmens turned professional in 1991, in a time where the tour was a largely open affair with over 700 players allowed to compete professionally. He had several years on the tour but ultimately only managed to achieve limited success with an appearance in the last 32 of the

1993 Welsh Open The 1993 Regal Welsh Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 21 and 31 January 1993 at the Newport Leisure Centre in Newport, Wales. Television coverage on BBC Wales started on 28 January. Stephen Hendry, t ...

being his most successful result and never having climbed higher than 167th in the world rankings. By 1995, Lemmens had fallen further in the world rankings, and dropped off of the main tour at the end of the

1994–95 snooker season The 1994–95 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between August 1994 and May 1995. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events. __TOC__ Calendar Official rankings The t ...

. In 1996 he once again competed in the world amateur championship reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual winner and future world champion

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

Death

On 10 October 2016, at the age of 44, Lemmens committed suicide when he stood in front of a train at Wezemaal.

Career finals

Amateur finals: 6 (1 title)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemmens, Steve Belgian snooker players 1972 births 2016 suicides Sportspeople from Leuven Suicides by train Suicides in Belgium