Snooker fans ‘feel sick’ as World Championship star’s shot cruelly costs him frame

 

Ricky Walden suffered an upset in his World Snooker Championship qualifier by losing 10-3 to Zak Surety, having suffered rotten luck in one decisive frame

Ricky Walden experienced some horrendous luck in his World Championship qualifier

Snooker fans were left disgusted after a World Championship hopeful’s shot cost him a frame in the cruellest way imaginable. Zak Surety swept past Ricky Walden 10-3 in qualifying on Wednesday to book his spot at the World Championship.

World No.73 Surety qualified for the Crucible for the very first time in emphatic fashion, while his opponent, three-time ranking event winner Walden, was likely left kicking himself. The world No.40 lost a crucial frame in agonising fashion while 7-3 down. After an impressive bit of play, he somehow missed the pink off the spot.

Walden was then faced with a difficult shot where he was required to knock the pink in off black into a corner pocket, which he pulled off, only for the black to creep into a middle pocket. Commentator Ken Doherty couldn’t believe Walden’s rotten luck.

Doherty began by saying: “Is he going to try to knock the pink off the black and try to put it in the corner pocket? I think he can play this shot, you know, off the black. Just watch the right corner pocket here.

Ricky Walden pulled off an impressive shot 

The black crept in somehow afterwards 

“There you go, now where’s the black… it’s going close, it’s going in! It can’t go in! Ah, you’re joking me! That’s so unfair. That was such an unbelievable shot he played. How’s he knocked the black in there? That was unbelievable.”

Walden didn’t directly lose the frame because of the shot but went on to lose the frame nonetheless, as fans on social media voiced their shock by tweeting: “Absolutely vile luck,” and: "OH MY GOD I FEEL SICK!” Another user wrote on X: “Snooker Gods are having the last laugh here!” before others chimed in with: “That's brutal,” and: “So unlucky for Ricky.”

https://t.co/NojbJz38NA pic.twitter.com/bQw7oXSis3

— 147mag (@147Magtr) April 15, 2025

 Surety, 33, was not fussed, however, as he eyes his World Championship debut, saying: "I am the biggest World Championship fan. I listen to the draw every year and this time I'm actually in it. I will probably be up at 5am getting nervous waiting for it. When I lost in the semis in China (6-5 to John Higgins having led 5-3) it was devastating. 

“I was thinking today, it can't happen again can it? Surely it's my turn for a nice drive home with a smile on my face. I must be doing something right. When Ricky shook my hand I have never been so relieved."