I got knocked out by snooker rival – then took him out for beer after his heartbreaking World Championship exit

Kyren Wilson’s World Snooker Championship may have been prematurely cut short by Mark Allen – but he was quick to console his crestfallen rival.

Wilson, who triumphed at the Crucible in 2023, was dumped out in the second round by the Northern Irishman last month.

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The 34-year-old’s defeat ensured it would be the fourth time in five years that the Kettering cueist had failed to reach the quarter-final stage.

But as gutted as the Warrior was, his emotions were nothing like what Allen experienced after his heartbreaking World Championship semi-final exit.

Allen was knocked out by China’s Wu Yize on Saturday as his dream to reach a first Crucible final came crashing down.

The two played out a modern classic, with the Pistol on the wrong end of a 17-16 loss – despite having a match-winning shot on the black.

Wil I never

With the score at 16-15 in the 40-year-old’s favour – and up 72-68 in the 32nd frame – all he needed was to roll the black in to secure his final spot against Shaun Murphy.

The ball looked destined to nestle in the pocket, with referee Marcel Eckardt appearing to start taking off his gloves in preparation of the match ending.

However, the black bounced multiple times across the jaws of the pocket, with fans in attendance audibly shocked.

Allen then had to bare witness to Wu cutting the black in to take the game to a final-leg decider, which the 22-year-old won by achieving a break of 71.

The 2022 UK Championship winner spoke afterwards of his devastation, as he insisted he failed to cope with the pressure.

Wilson has now revealed that he went for a drink with his rival after his painful exit, who he conceded will be haunted by his miss.

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Appearing on the Sports Breakfast show on Monday morning, Wilson said: “Mark Allen was a black ball away from knocking Wu Yize out in the semi-finals.

“So I actually spoke to both guys afterwards, I gave Mark a cuddle and I felt for him.

“And I sort of shook Wu Yize’s hand and said, ‘Congratulations,’ and he looked exhausted and I think he thought to himself he was out, like anybody would.

“So I doubt he would have had a very good night’s sleep [before World Championship final first session].”

talKSPORT co-host Ally McCoist then asked Wilson how does Allen recover from such a gut-wrenching defeat.

To which he remarked: “Yeah, listen, there’s no getting away from it, that will haunt him for a long time.

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“But actually I went and had a beer with Mark afterwards, we’re good friends off of the table.

“And I just said, ‘Look, you’ve got two choices,’ because he was sort of saying he felt like he’d let himself down.

“I said, ‘Look, you can look at it that way. I don’t see it that way. For me, it was a discipline thing.’

“If you look back at the shot, he had a really long bridge, he was cueing off of the cushion.

“If he gets his hand on the bed of the table, he’s got more control of his technique.

“So I said, ‘For me, if you looked at it as a discipline thing, it’s easier to get over,’ because then you just slap yourself on the back of the hand and you go, ‘Right, back to the process. I need to learn from that.'”