Hossein Vafaei produced a stunning ‘once-every-10-year fluke’ against Jimmy White at the Northern Ireland Open. The Iranian remarkably hit a shot along the rail and into the green pocket, leaving fans speechless in Belfast.
Vafaei was attempting to build his maiden break of the tournament and tried to slam the brown into the green pocket. However, the ball bounced up and began to roll along the rail of the table.
Astonishingly, it continued to roll and potted into the opposite yellow pocket. Although a rare way to hit the ball into a pocket, it is considered a legal shot and is rarely purposely attempted.
Eurosport commentators Dave Hendon and Neal Foulds suggested the shot is a once-every-10-year incident.
As the ball rolled into the yellow pocket, Hendon gasped and exclaimed: “Hang on, what about that! The brown has gone all along the rail and in the yellow pocket!”
“It’s one of those flukes you see once every five years. It’s extraordinary, look at that,” Foulds added.
“It is a legal shot in case you were wondering. It only gives you four points but it’s a remarkable thing to happen. In all the years, I’ve seen probably seven or eight times the ball going in like that. It is always fun, isn’t it?”
Hendon pointed out that actively attempting to roll a ball along the rail will usually see a player’s shot head off the table.
He said: “Normally it just gets forced off the table, doesn’t it? All the way along the rail and in.”
Foulds continued: “I saw it happen on the final black in a frame once, the final frame of the match. One for social media, I’m sure that’ll be seen again.
“You literally could not play that shot if you were there for 10 years because it’s something that is an uncontrollable really.”
White, who went on to book his place in the last-32 aged 62, took advantage of another contentious moment when he was 3-2 ahead. Vafaei appeared to have forced a deciding frame when he potted a long red.
However, referee Kevin Dabrowski called a foul, deeming Vafaei to have not properly placed the cue ball inside the D. Bemused by the decision, both players attempted to review the footage on a nearby camera screen. White took advantage, going on to win 4-2.
“Well we’re watching it now, I can’t tell. I can’t tell,” said Foulds. “I guess it’s got to be over the line rather than on the line. It might be in but I’m not going to say either way.”
