Luca Brecel explains why he quit Xi'an Grand Prix qualifier in snooker scenes similar to Ronnie O'Sullivan's infamous walkout at UK Championship

Luca Brecel brought back memories of Ronnie O'Sullivan's infamous walkout at the 2006 UK Championship when he quit his Xi'an Grand Prix qualifier mid-match. Trailing 2-0 and 40-1 to Sunny Akani in the first round in Leicester, Brecel intervened with Akani at the table to inform the Thai player that he was conceding the match despite his opponent requiring another three frames for victory.

Watch extraordinary moment Brecel quits mid-match at Xi'an Grand Prix

Video credit: TNT Sports

Luca Brecel's miserable start to the new snooker season continued when he opted to quit his best-of-nine frame qualifier at the Xi'an Grand Prix, trailing world No. 74 Sunny Akani 2-0 and 40-1 in the third frame.

Citing technical issues with his cue beyond his control, the 2023 world champion later revealed the reasons behind his decision to concede the match at Leicester's Mattioli Arena.

"The only real reason for assignment today," said the player dubbed 'The Belgian Bullet' on Instagram.

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"Due to overpower, I can't use my own cue today. Every decent snooker player knows how difficult it is to play with a borrowed cue from a colleague!

"Started the game with a warrior's mentality but soon realised that there was no feeling in that piece of wood.

"The feeling in the arm has been unbelievably good the last few weeks. totally nothing to do with it all, but we keep on going!"

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Video credit: TNT Sports

The remarkable scenes brought back memories of Ronnie O'Sullivan infamously quitting his quarter-final match at the 2006 UK Championship when he was losing 4-1 to Stephen Hendry and offering the handshake mid-frame in York.

O'Sullivan was later fined £20,800, but it remains to be seen if action will be taken against Brecel for forfeiting the match as Akani, who had made a new cue for O'Sullivan in recent months, was awarded a 5-0 walkover.

Brecel also failed to appear for his Wuhan Open qualifier with Haris Tahir in June and opted out of the British Open qualifiers before skipping the Saudi Arabia Masters in Jeddah, where he was due to meet Sanderson Lam in the round of 80 last month.

He later explained that his extended absence was due to health reasons, but the former world No. 2, who has slipped to 41st in the rankings, is due to return to action at 4pm UK time at the same venue on Sunday afternoon for Northern Ireland Open qualifying and a match with Liam Davies.

Elsewhere in qualifying on Tuesday, John Higgins, Zhang Anda and Jack Lisowski all suffered defeats in the first round of qualifying.

Four-time world champion Higgins lost 5-3 to world No. 111 Liam Pullen in a shock reverse.

Despite reaching the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open, where he lost 5-3 to Gary Wilson, Higgins revealed that he was struggling for motivation and needed time off.

Farakh Ajaib claimed a 5-4 win over world No. 13 Zhang from 54-0 down on the final black with Lisowski going out by the same scoreline to Xu Yichen, in losing the final four frames to breaks of 78, 66, 53 and 66.

But Masters champion Shaun Murphy produced a 117 break in a 5-0 whitewash of Liam Highfield while Stan Moody hit back from 4-2 down to edge out Amir Sarkhosh 5-4.

And Zhou Yuelong compiled the third 147 of his career and the eighth of the season in a 5-2 victory over Julien Leclercq.

O'Sullivan will take on talented 19-year-old Ukrainian Iulian Boiko in the first round of the finals venue in China, a ranking tournament he described as having "a beautiful atmosphere" last year.

The tournament will be staged between October 7 and 13, live on TNT Sports and discovery+, with Kyren Wilson defending the trophy after his 10-8 win over world No. 1 Judd Trump in the inaugural final last August.

2025 Xi'an Grand Prix qualifying results

Liam Pullen 5-3 John Higgins
Huang Jiahao 5-3 Tom Ford
Dylan Emery 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Ian Burns
Jamie Jones 5-1 Connor Benzey
Sunny Akani 5-0 Luca Brecel
Stan Moody 5-4 Amir Sarkhosh
Matthew Selt 5-4 Antoni Kowalski
Michael Holt 5-1 Umut Dikme (a)
Elliot Slessor 5-1 Liam Graham
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-0 Jonas Luz
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Liam Highfield
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-1 Patrick Whelan (a)
Mateusz Baranowski 5-4 Liu Hongyu
Farakh Ajaib 5-4 Zhang Anda
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Steven Hallworth
Zhou Yuelong 5-2 Julien Leclercq
Xu Yichen 5-4 Jack Lisowski
He Guoqiang 5-1 Zhao Hanyang
Si Jiahui 5-3 Chang Bingyu

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Stream the new snooker season, including the 2025 Xi'an Grand Prix, live on TNT Sports and discovery+

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