Snooker stars refuse to lend rival a cue as he gets to Northern Ireland Open empty handed

It seems Noppon Saengkham was afforded little sympathy from his fellow professionals after turning up for the Northern Ireland Open without his snooker cue. The Thai player did appear blameless for the mishap, with the World Tour later confirming the item had been lost in transit from Manchester to Belfast.

However, the 32-year-old's pleas for help were then initially rejected, leaving him in a panic ahead of his first-round match with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Eventually, came to the rescue at the 11th hour, and Saengkham was left grateful to the ex- after coming through the clash 4-3.

"I have to really thank Shaun because I asked a few other players, but they couldn't lend me a cue because they were practicing," said Saengkham. "Then I saw Shaun and he gave me his cue this morning."

And the world No. 28 revealed that the 'Magician' sacrificed his own preparation in order to help him out. "It meant he couldn't practice today," he said. "I only had 10 minutes with his cue before my match. So I just tried to enjoy the game because if I'm not happy then I can't play well. I tried to play simple shots, nothing too hard."

Indeed, while beggars cannot be choosers, Murphy's cue is perhaps not the best to use without familiarity. The 42-year-old is known for being specific with his design and uses a particularly small cue tip.

However, Murphy inadvertently contributed to a gripping contest, with Saengkham leading 1-0 and then 3-2 before his opponent levelled the match again to set up a grandstand finish. But the pre-match favourite held his nerve with a 64 clearance from 54-3 down, and joked afterwards he would be asking Murphy to lend him a hand again.

"I did very well, I potted some long balls and my break-building was good, especially the clearance in the last frame," he said. "I don't know if Shaun will let me use this cue in my next match. I will have to ask him. If I end up playing him here, maybe we will have to share it."

The former world No.3 did respond to posts about the incident on X, saying: "Ironically, I only brought one with me this week." But if anyone would have been understanding of the situation, it would be Murphy after his own ordeal at the Shanghai Masters this year.

He arrived in China to discover his luggage had gone missing, which included his unique cue. The situation was resolved in time for the tournament and Murphy recovered to make the final, where he was beaten by .

Saengkham's actual cue was due to arrive before his second-round match against . However, he was maybe left ruing it did, with the Welshman dominating proceedings to win 4-1.