Snooker star playing in agony after suffering freak sledgehammer injury

Tom Ford has revealed that he has been playing through pain at the Northern Ireland Open, where he reached the quarter-finals. Ford was beaten 5-4 by Zhou Yuelong on Friday, who clinched a final fourth berth against the in-form Jack Lisowski. But Ford has shown incredible toughness to take to the baize despite 'stabbing pains' in his shoulder.

World No. 22 Ford tore his rotator cuff while trying to set up a new snooker club, having used a sledgehammer to take down a wall that he thought was not necessary. He has been left unable to practice and pulled out of the British Open earlier in the season due to medical reasons.

"I've been struggling with my shoulder," Ford explained to The Sun. "I was knocking the wall down with a sledgehammer. Just what snooker players really do, innit?

"Just casually getting a sledgehammer and knocking a wall through! So I think I've done it that way. It was DIY. I'm looking at setting up a club myself and I thought that wall didn't need to be there. So instead of paying somebody, I did it myself.

"Me and a couple of friends are setting up a club in Loughborough. I did it myself and obviously it was the wrong thing to do.

"It was about a couple of weeks later that I found it hurt. Just before the Championship League, that's when I noticed. It has gradually gotten worse - and now it's got better."

Ford is hoping for a complete return to fitness by December, having rejected cortisone shots in order to prevent the possibility of infection. He has been undergoing physiotherapy and taking other tablets.

"So I've not been playing, not been practising at all," Ford continued. "So to come to an event and actually win a game, it's not the norm at the minute. It's my left shoulder, so when I get down on the shot, I can feel the stretching and then I can feel a sharp stabbing pain.

"And then when I feel that pain, my legs go as well. Obviously I've not been practising because of that. When I do actually play a little bit, I can then feel the pain going up my neck and down the side as well.

"I've had scans. Everything's healing up nicely now. But it's just going to take time - and obviously time that we don't have when tournaments come around so quickly.

"It's a rotator cuff tear. I did it at the start of the season. That's why if people have been seeing the results, I've not been doing very well.

"I get here and the table just seems huge and anything over six foot, I've got no chance. So I need my shoulder to get better so I can get on the practice table and actually feel half normal."