Mark Williams threatened to turn his cue into a javelin as he battled to stay in the Welsh Open.
The snooker star was in action against Stephen Maguire in the second round in Llandudno. Williams made a slow start, falling 2-0 down in the first-to-four-frames contest before pulling one back.
In a tight fourth frame, the Welshman, 49, made heavy weather of a break and couldn’t conceal his frustration at one point. After a poor positional shot with the rest left him struggling to keep the break going, he jokingly shaped, javelin-style, to hurl his cue out of the arena.
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If that wasn’t enough, he then lost his chalk and had to reach under the table to retrieve it, leaving commentators Dennis Taylor and Lee Walker, Williams’ coach, amused. “He’s getting ready to javelin his cue,” said Walker, as if he had seen it all before. “He’s now dropped his chalked!”
Taylor added: “Where is it, under the table?” Then, as a replay of Williams’ javelin throw was shown, the 1985 world champion quipped: “Watch out everybody!”
After composing himself, Williams managed to keep the break going by sinking a tricky pink to the middle pocket and going on to wrap up the frame to make it 2-2. However, Maguire won the next two to win 4-2.
Williams had reached round two of his home tournament thanks to a 4-1 victory over Austrian Florian Nuessle, a win which included breaks of 101, 100 and 117.
"I’ve been playing well all season," said Williams, the last Welsh winner of the event back in 1999, after that win. "I've won a tournament [this season] and could have had one or two more. It’s more than I ever thought I’d be doing, approaching my 50th birthday. I've just got to enjoy it."
After that match, Williams was involved in a frosty exchange with former Welsh professional Darren Morgan on BBC Wales. The pair had an explosive falling out ahead of the 2018 Welsh Open, and Williams is not ready to bury the hatchet.
After answering questions from host Ian Hunt and pundit Ken Doherty, Morgan asked: “Would you say you enjoy it more nowadays compared to when you were young?”
Refusing to even make eye contact with Morgan, Williams merely said “no comment” as Doherty laughed awkwardly. The interview then continued with Doherty and Hunt asking further questions.
