3 months ago
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SNOOKER star Matthew Selt played the Saudi Arabian Masters with a superglued cue after it snapped on his flight to the Middle East.
The world No33 jetted off to the lucrative tournament with the cue he has been using for the past decade.
Matthew Selt’s cue snapped during his flight to Saudi ArabiaGetty
It had completely cracked in transit
He found a carpenter to fix it ahead of the eventInstagram @mattselt
Selt hailed the tradesman’s work after he ended up reaching the fourth roundInstagram @mattseltBut when the Brit picked up the case in Riyadh he could see it was “clearly deformed”.
Upon opening it up, Selt discovered the cue was “completely snapped”.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “It sounds ridiculous but it was an incredible turn of events.”
Due to the subtle intricacies of a snooker player’s cue, Selt was against getting a new one for the event.
Instead, he and his coach Chris Henry found a local carpenter who superglued it back together.
Selt added: “Because every piece of wood has different characteristics, it’s quite hard to get used to a new one straight away – it’s not ideal.
“I’ve been playing with this one for 10 years, I know exactly what it’s going to do and all the characteristics to deal with the dimensions.
“It sounds a little bit geeky, but [using a new cue] would be like starting again.”
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Selt’s cue was fixed to an impressive standard as he went on to reach the fourth round of the event before he lost to China’s Pang Junxu.
The run earned him £11,000, with Selt satisfied with how the cue performed.
He said: “The cue played very similar to how it did before it broke, albeit with a crack all the way through it.”
Judd Trump won the event, beating Mark Williams 10-9 in a thrilling final.
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