FORMER Team GB star Nile Wilson suffered a crushing loss at the UK Open Pool Championship.
The gymnast, who won bronze on the men’s horizontal bar in the 2016 in Rio, revealed he’d swapped the pommel horse for the pool table last month.
The 29-year-old didn’t take preparation for the Telford tournament lightly, enlisting the services of Karl Boynes to get him competition-ready.
But his preparations mattered little as he ended up being embarrassed by Hubert Lopotko.
Despite winning the lag, Wilson ended up being whitewashed by Polish whizz Lopotko.
Wilson was an exceptionally good sport, despite being emphatically beaten.
As soon as Lopotko potted the final ball, he raced out of his chair to shake hands with his conqueror.
Wilson’s exit has seen him miss out on the opportunity to win the whopping £150,000 cash prize.
Wilson announced his retirement from gymnastics in 2019 after suffering a herniated disc, which left him needing to learn how to walk again.
Recalling his retirement, he told the BBC: “I wanted to be the best gymnast in the world, and then it’s taken away from you.
“That knocked me for six and shattered my mind. “It was tough to accept that I wasn’t going to be the athlete I once was.
“That’s when my behaviour started to take a dive. It was tough to be positive because of the severity of the pain.
“I was one of the fittest athletes on the planet, then I was struggling to walk.
“I started to take lots of pain relief and drink lots of alcohol to try and numb the pain.
“I found it difficult, as well, because I’d put myself out there so much online. I was an inspiration, a powerful alpha.
“And then I wasn’t. That’s when my mental health started to spiral.”;
