On TV shows, we've all seen creative ways of having papers served. In case you were curious to see if such surprises were actually done in real life, we have our answer from the Welsh Open snooker tournament.

Just before his quarterfinal match against Anthony Hamilton, Mark Selby was approached by a man in the crowd.

The guy leaned over to Selby, handed him an envelope, and said, "You are being served with a writ and bankruptcy notice". The entire incident was broadcast live on BBC.

It turned out that the man who had given him the paperwork was George Barmby, his former manager. Judging by the timing of incident, it's safe to say that there's an acrimonious story behind "former" being added to his title. It takes some stones to serve a guy right before an important match. It's not like he was going anywhere, surely it could have waited until right after.

Needless to say, Selby was put off his game, saying, "I didn’t know who it was. He handed me a letter, mumbled and went off. All I could think about was what might’ve been in the envelope."

He lost the match.

Writ claim disrupts Selby match [BBC]
Writ shock precedes Mark Selby’s defeat [Times Online]


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