Mark Selby forced to play 'very unpleasant' shot with ridiculously long cue at World Snooker Championship

Published 22/04/2024 at 18:45 GMT

Four-time world champion Mark Selby crashed out of the World Snooker Championship on Monday – but he still found time to delight the Crucible crowd with the most unusual of shots with a super long cue. Selby's remarkable escape was illustrated perfectly by the TV cameras, which showed the white perched at one end of the 12-foot table and the 'Jester from Leicester' at the other.

'He'll be in the audience at this rate!' – Selby forced to use super long cue

Mark Selby had to play the snooker equivalent of the classic buzz wire game at a crunch point of his World Championship opener with Joe O'Connor at the Crucible.

Staring at a first-round exit against the debutant, Selby needed to win five frames on the bounce to swerve a major upset – and found himself in a sticky situation in Sheffield.

The four-time world champion wanted to play a shot down the table despite the white being positioned near the bottom of it, requiring him to extend the 'spider rest' to its maximum length and add multiple screw-in extensions to his cue.

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"He'll be in the audience at this rate, he's got so many extensions on. It's not far to that front row," joked David Hendon on Eurosport commentary as Selby screwed in his final attachment.

"This is a very unpleasant business," added Neal Foulds as Selby proceeded to delicately guide his rest around a cluster of reds to the desired point.

With his unavoidably long cue in one hand and the rest in the other, Selby wobbled his way into position - prompting a nervous "ooohhh" from the commentary box.

"It's all a bit wobbly this, what an operation when you're 9-5 down in the World Championship," said Hendon.

Selby finally took the shot, managing to wriggle his super long cue and the rest out of trouble, prompting a hearty response from the Sheffield crowd.

"He got the biggest cheer of the day!" summed up Hendon.

Although Selby marched on to take the frame, ultimately it was a challenge too great as he crashed out 10-6 to debutant O'Connor.