England’s Mark Selby withdraws from 2012 China Open following neck injury
Current World Number one, England’s Mark Selby had a tremendous start in the 2012 China Open snooker tournament at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium after he clinched his first victory over the Chinese potter, Li Hang by a whitewash score line of
5-0.
The Englishman was looking good in the tournament but due to his neck injury he was suffering from during the event, he had to pull out of the competition.
The Jester from Leicester looked brilliant when he began his China Open campaign playing against the Chinese cueman. He participated in the tournament despite his neck injury but after he finished with Hang, he felt that he will not be able to continue the
tournament so he decided to pull out of the contest. He was up against the 2012 Welsh open winner, Ding Junhui in the second round which was expected to be one of the most exciting clashes.
Speaking to World Snooker about his decision, Selby said, “I'm absolutely gutted to have to pull out and to let down the Chinese fans as I was really looking forward to playing Ding tonight. I have been suffering with neck pain and I struggled through my
first-round match.”
The Leicester potter added, “I don't want to do any more damage, especially with the world championship coming up, so I'm going back to the UK to get some treatment. I look forward to coming back to China as I love playing here.”
With Selby out of the tournament, the Chinese Sensation has breezed into the quarter-finals of the tournament where he will meet the winner of second round clash between Ali Carter and Lu Ning.
Besides, the former three-time World Snooker Champion, England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan was also at the edge to withdraw from the contest but he finally made it back. The Rocket was suffering from glandular fever for the past six months and because of that he
had already pulled out of the 2012 Haikou World Open and the 2011-12 Players Tour Championship (PTC) Grand Finals.
However, Selby needs to take complete rest so that he can be available in the upcoming 2012 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
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