One body part you certainly don’t want to injure as a snooker player is your arm, but that’s unfortunately what has happened to Marco Fu.
The Hong Kong cueist announced a few days ago that he will be out of action for a couple of months after fracturing his elbow.
Fu had been expected to line up at the International Championship qualifiers on Tuesday and was due to face old foe Neil Robertson in the round of 128.
But the 47 year-old has been replaced in the draw for the Chinese ranking event by Umut Dikme, with Fu looking set to be on the sidelines until at least November.
“Ouch, I’ve just fractured my elbow, haha…don’t ask me how,” Fu wrote on social media platform Facebook at the weekend.
“Nothing too serious, but will be out of action for roughly two months. Sadly, I need to withdraw from a number of tournaments.”
“Hopefully I can get back on the table ASAP. Thank you for your support, take care, and see you soon.”
After being awarded a fresh invitational tour card to compete on the professional circuit this season, Fu had been in pretty good form.
The three-time ranking event winner has won matches in most of the ranking events he has participated in so far this term.
Fu’s scoring has been particularly impressive with a dozen century breaks to his name already from just the same amount of games played.
The former world number five has won eight of those matches and was due to compete at next week’s Xi’an Grand Prix having beaten Sanderson Lam in the qualifiers earlier this month.
Fu also recently beat Amir Sarkhosh and Jamie Jones en route to securing a spot at the upcoming Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.
It’s definitely a pity that the injury has come at this time given how he was enjoying an upward trajectory on the rankings list.
Fans of the Hong Kong star will be hoping that he will be fit enough to return by the time the UK Championship rolls around at the end of November.
Fu is no stranger to injury and illness curtailing his efforts on the baize – undergoing laser eye surgery to treat retinal degeneration in 2017.
He mostly struggled for top form after that and was subsequently badly impacted by travel restrictions imposed during the global pandemic.
At the 2024 German Masters, Fu rolled back the years to beat Mark Selby but then had to withdraw midway through his following fixture as a result of double vision.
Prior to his surgery, Fu had represented one of the best main tour players on a consistent basis for two decades.
Soon after turning professional in 1998 on the back of his victory at the IBSF World Amateur Championship, he reached the final of the Grand Prix in Preston.
His maiden ranking title materialised at the same event nine years later when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-6 in the final – an opponent who he famously had a strong head-to-head record against in those days.
More ranking success followed at the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open and again at the Scottish Open of 2016, where he defeated home favourites Neil Robertson and John Higgins respectively.
Fu was runner-up to Ding Junhui at the 2011 Masters – the first time that a main tour event boasted two finalists from Asia – and he was also twice a semi-finalist at the Crucible Theatre.
He last reached a big final in 2022 when, at the Hong Kong Masters where he memorably compiled one of his five career maximum breaks, he was denied glory on home soil by Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Featured photo credit: WST
