Stephen Hendry faced a substantial headache before the first ranking event of the new season: he had no snooker club.

Stephen Hendry faced a substantial headache before the first ranking event of the new season: he had no snooker club. The seven-times world champion practised at the Stirling-based Spencer club for 23 years but, on the eve of this week's Northern Ireland Trophy, he had just 24 hours to move his table after the club unexpectedly shut.

"I had to do something quickly, so I built myself a practice room at home," said the 38-year-old. "There's no club close to me, so I had no choice. It's been working out well. I converted my garage, moved my table in and I've been practising there."

Hendry, who faces Stephen Lee in the first round in Belfast tonight, acknowledges the sport itself does not have its problems to seek, following the loss of sponsors for the world championship and Wembley Masters.

"I had heard a couple of rumours about the sponsors, but it was still a surprise when it happened," he said. "It's obviously a difficult time to attract sponsors, but I'd be very surprised if World Snooker didn't replace them."

However, with the addition of a new ranking event in Bahrain to this season's calendar, prize money up by £250,000 and the Malta Cup rumoured to have had its invitational status upgraded to a ranking event, Hendry believes it's not all doom and gloom.

He said: "It's great there's a new tournament in Bahrain. I think now we've got tolook at other countries. There's an appetite for snooker, especially in somewhere like Germany."

Yesterday's action included Jimmy White's first appearance at a ranking tournament for 17 months, but he lost 5-3 to Barry Hawkins.