Snooker semi briefly halted by cue-tip woe for Fu

There was a bizarre interruption at the World Snooker Championship on Friday when Marco Fu saw the tip of his cue fall off during his semi-final against Mark Selby.

Hong Kong's Fu was 33-5 up and midway through a break in frame 15 when he chalked his cue and stopped in amazement as the tip came loose and fell to the floor.

Play was duly suspended for around 10 minutes, with BBC commentator and former player John Virgo describing the unusual incident as the "worst thing in the world that can happen to a snooker player".

Yet to his credit, Fu recovered his composure impressively after referee Paul Collier had applied a new tip.

Having briefly tested his repaired cue in the practice room, Fu continued his break to reach 81 and move 8-7 up in the best-of-35-frames match, although Selby responded to end the second session on level terms.

Either Fu or 2014 world champion Selby will face Ding Junhui or Alan McManus in the final, which will be played over four sessions on Sunday and Monday.