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Judd Trump limped over the line against Wales's Dominic Dale in the first round of the world snooker championship, winning 10-7. Last year's runner-up later explained that he almost threw in the towel before it had even started.
Pulling out of the tournament was among the thoughts that whirred through the 22-year-old Bristolian's mind as he was physically sick repeatedly on Tuesday morning, minutes before the start of his opening match at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Trump has been suffering with apparent food poisoning since eating a chicken dish. "It started on Monday night, about an hour after I ate," he said. "And then I woke up sweating in the middle of the night, and I was being sick at eight in the morning, until half past nine."
His match began at 10am, and when asked how close he came to pulling out, Trump said: "The closest I've ever been in a professional tournament. If it was a smaller event I maybe wouldn't have played."
Perhaps the most predictable first-round defeat for a world No1 arrived on Wednesday when Mark Selby lost 10-3 to Dartford's Barry Hawkins.
Selby, from Leicester, came to Sheffield with little practice behind him after suffering a neck problem which caused him to pull out of the China Open last month.
He said: "I was trying my best out there but there were certain shots I couldn't physically play. I didn't have the strength and the power. I'm happy that I managed to play because 10 days ago I was looking at pulling out."
It was another good day for the qualifiers, with eight seeds now eliminated, matching the most to have gone out at the first-round stage. Eight also went in 1992. The seeds out this time are: Stuart Bingham, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy, Stephen Lee, Martin Gould, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen, Mark Selby.
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