Snooker star walks out and disappears in middle of match despite £500k prize

 Snooker star walks out and disappears in middle of match despite £500k prize

Matthew Selt was taking on Pang Junxu in the last 16 of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters on Tuesday when he sensationally walked out on the match after missing a simple pot

(Image: (Image: X/@SnookerSuper))

Snooker star Matthew Selt abruptly walked out mid-match at the big money Saudi Arabia Masters tournament on Tuesday to leave viewers and his opponent stunned. The English player, currently ranked 33rd globally, was competing against Chinese player Pang Junxu, who holds the 28th spot in the world snooker rankings.

With the score standing at 4-3 (1-10) in favour of Junxu during the seventh frame, Selt missed what seemed to be an easy pot into the bottom-right pocket. Visibly frustrated, he flicked a red ball with his hand and swiftly left the table

While many would have expected the 39 year old to shake off the mistake and continue playing, he instead had a brief conversation with the referee before gathering his belongings and heading for the exit. Footage shows Junxu sitting in his corner as Selt approaches him to shake hands before making a quick departure.

This surprising incident occurred just two days after Selt disclosed that he had been playing with a broken cue in Riyadh, which had been damaged during the flight, potentially explaining his decision to abandon the match

It snapped in two," Selt revealed before the tournament. "I had some cues sent from back home and one from Thailand but I found a local carpenter here who has filed some of the wood away and used some extremely strong adhesive to put it back together, so I'm going to use it.", reports the Express.

"I played with it for a few hours earlier. It looks terrible, but the balls are going in the direction they were going in before it broke."

"Hopefully that will keep happening and it won't break during the game. He's done a very good job in terms of keeping me going until I can get it to Thailand after here and get it completely rebuilt

(Image: (Image: Getty))

Instead, he will depart the tournament with £11,000 after making it to the fourth round with his victory over Allan Taylor.

In a twist of fate, Selt's next match on the World Snooker Tour is at the Wuhan Open on October 6, where he will once again face off against Junxu