'I'm sick of being fat-shamed on social media' - Shaun Murphy reveals he had surgery to remove 80% of stomach

Shaun Murphy has revealed he has undergone gastric sleeve surgery in a bid to rejuvenate his career as well as the criticism he received on social media. Having made the World Championship final in 2021, where he was beaten by Mark Selby, Murphy had one of the most difficult seasons of his career. Ad He was knocked out in the early stages of most ranking tournaments including a first-round loss to amateur player Si Jiahui at the UK Championship, where Murphy claimed “it was not fair” to face players of that calibre.

A day later, he apologised for his comments but the second half of his season seeing little improvement. World ChampionshipWorld Championship LIVE: Allen reaches second round, Williams also through18/04/2022 AT 08:25 “The surgery is irreversible, so it was a huge decision,” Murphy told sportsmail. “I get that as a high-profile sportsman you expect stick on social media, but the personal attacks are really cruel.

“I've had 80% of my stomach removed so now I can eat very little. It's pretty much impossible for me to ever put weight back on again. “I used to go to Weight Watchers and really enjoyed it and I've lost weight throughout my career — it's yo-yoed when I've dieted and got into exercise.

“I've had a lot of things going on in my life which contributed to the worst season of my career last season. It's been incredibly tough and one thing I've always struggled with is my weight.” Murphy also explained personal problems away from the baize have also hampered him in the last 12 months. The 40-year-old says he’s “by no means the finished article” and wants to “enjoy his snooker and feel good about himself”.