The worm that turned: London-born Norwegian Kurt Maflin bitten on the thumb at World Open in China
The world number 50 was able to recover and beat Xiao Guodong 5-0 to earn his place in the third round of the ranking event in Yushan
London-born Norwegian Kurt Maflin had a very unusual, but for a snooker player, acceptable excuse if he had lost to China’s Xiao Guodong in the second round of the World Open in Yushan.
Thankfully, world number 50 Maflin recovered from being bitten by a worm on his right thumb after beating Welshman Michael White in the first round on Monday and eased to a 5-0 victory over Xiao on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old will next play England’s Shaun Murphy in the third round on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Marco Fu, though, was not able to use the same excuse for his 5-3 defeat by England’s Sam Craigie in the first round on Monday.
John Higgins, Ali Carter, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, Ryan Day and Alan McManus also all reached the last 16.
But there were surprise exits for World champion Mark Selby, Crucible runner-up Ding Junhui as well as Judd Trump.
