Jimmy White apologetic as he tosses rest in frustration in English Open defeat

Jimmy White was apologetic as he tossed the rest across the room in the frustration at the English Open as he slipped to an opening round defeat.

Hanging on at 3-1 down to Michael Holt in Milton Keynes, White missed a crucial green just as he was sneaking back into the contest, and lets his temper get the better of him as he tossed the rest on the floor.

White was seen to apologise to the referee in the aftermath, but the match was soon over as he lost the frame to crash out of the tournament.

"He had a 97 per cent pot success rate," White said after the match. "He played really well in the match, I missed a couple of balls and you can’t do that at this level.

"I was clearing up the last game and unfortunately I missed a green with the long rest, I sorted of lobbed it in frustration and I apologised to the referee about that.

Elsewhere in the afternoon session, Mark Selby made short work of his opener, dispatching Fan Zhengyi 4-0. The Jester from Leicester wasn't at his fluent best, with a high break of 70 in the match, but he had too much for his young opponent, while Neil Robertson stormed into the next round. Runs of 114, 87 and 86 saw off Lyu Haotian, with Robertson meeting Mark Joyce next.