The reigning world champion had to withdraw from the snooker event in Tampere at the last minute.
Winner of the world snooker championship last May Luca Brecel will not be able to play in the exhibition match organized in Tampere on Thursday evening. Brecel was scheduled to face the 2010 world champion Neil Robertson in the sold-out 1,900-seat Tampere building.
The organizer of the match, the only professional player in Finnish snooker history Robin Hull says that Brecel was supposed to travel to Finland on Wednesday evening. However, the 28-year-old Belgian was unable to travel on Wednesday due to a high fever.
Brecel’s place in Thursday night’s exhibition match will be taken by an English player Mark Selby. The 40-year-old Selby is a four-time world snooker champion (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021), a three-time Masters winner (2008, 2010 and 2013) and a two-time UK Championship champion (2012 and 2016). He is the player with the fourth most major tournament wins in snooker history.
Selby will travel to Finland on Thursday morning. Selby’s opponent, 41-year-old Robertson, arrived in Tampere late on Wednesday evening.
Australian Robertson is the 2010 World Champion and two-time Masters winner (2012 and 2022). In addition, he has celebrated the UK Championship three times (2013, 2015 and 2020).
Selby is fifth and Robertson sixth in the recent world rankings.