Matt Selt narrowly avoided disaster just before the World Championship (Picture: Getty Images)
Matt Selt nearly lost sight in one eye a week before his World Championship campaign began, so he heads to the Crucible feeling lucky to be seeing clearly and looking to cause an upset against Mark Selby.
The 38-year-old came through two qualification matches to make it to the biggest stage in snooker, downing Peter Lines and Graeme Dott to reach the Crucible for a fourth time.
That very nearly didn’t happen, though, with an accident involving his son nearly costing him his vision, which not only would have scuppered his World Championship chances, but his entire career.
‘I had a really bad scare last week [before qualifying], my little boy caught me in my right eye and he’s gone through six layers of my cornea,’ said Selt after coming through the qualifiers.
‘The optician said if it was a couple of millimetres higher I would have been blind in that eye for the rest of my life. So in the grand scheme of things, coming here to hit some balls was nice.
‘It was [scary]. That’s the difference between taking things for granted and not. I went to see the optician. She asked how the pain was, I said 3 or 4 out of 10. She said she was amazed because it should be 8 or 9, but I am quite hard.
‘I went back the next day and the first thing he said was, “you’re very, very lucky.” I didn’t feel lucky, I couldn’t see out of that eye. He said it will scar and where it scars it’s going to be cloudy, but if it was over the pupil it would be goodnight in that eye, so I did feel a bit lucky leaving there.
‘Luckily it cleared up a day and a half before I played Peter [Lines], I’m very fortunate to be able to see. It’s fine now. It’s a miracle. I’m going to go and get it checked to see how the scar’s healing, but it’s absolutely fine and thank God for that.’
Asked how he is managing the injury, Selt explained last week: ‘I’m on the creams and I have to sleep with a thick paste in my eye at this precise moment in time. When it did happen, I moved my cue slightly over left and practiced like that for three or four days.
‘It was ok, but luckily as the days went past I could see more and more. If I closed one eye I had a diagonal line through the lights, but that went, then they went really cloudy and I couldn’t see, but it went back to normal.’
Indian Open champion Selt beat Selby earlier this season in the Championship League (Picture: Getty Images)
Selt takes on Selby in last 32 at the Crucible, starting on Wednesday afternoon and coming to a close on Thursday afternoon as he bids to pick up his first ever win at the venue.
He has been there three times before and lost in the first round on each visit, something he puts down to the size of the occasion.
‘I’m going to put it down to the occasion, that’s what it is, there’s nothing else,’ Selt said on his disappointing Crucible record.
‘It’s all a bit hazy looking back, I don’t remember much of the three matches I’ve played there, which is really unlike me because I’ve got a pretty good memory.
‘The occasion gets to me there, that’s about it, I just hope it doesn’t this time.’
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‘That’s the difference between taking things for granted and not.’