Jones 'struggled to breathe' during Selby defeat

Jak Jones revealed he was struggling to breathe at times during his heavy defeat to Mark Selby in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.

The 2024 runner-up was comfortably beaten 10-2 by Selby on Wednesday.

He said breathing difficulties caused by asthma meant he could not concentrate and can even develop into a panic attack, though he did not blame the health problems for his exit.

"I practiced quite well and felt quite good coming here. But I felt absolutely shocking this morning, probably one of the worst I've felt in a match," he said.

"When you can't breathe, you can't be composed and I feel pressure in my head and get headaches.

"It turns into a panic attack because I can't breathe and I want to just rip my shirt off.

"I probably would've lost by the same scoreline but it just makes it harder with my asthma if you can't breathe properly."

Jones, 32, explained his asthma condition is the reason he does not wear a bow tie when competing.

He has sought medical advice about the issue but has so far been unable to find any resolution.

"I can end up feeling absolutely terrible, I get tremors and stuff like that," he added.

"If I take my medication it can make it worse [when playing] as it can give me the shakes.

"It happened in my last match [qualifier] against Luca Brecel but I got through it."

Jones trailed 7-2 after the morning session against four-time champion Selby having felt "absolutely shocking".

The world number 19 recovered later in the day but had no answer as Selby claimed the three more frames required to seal victory.

It was a disappointing exit for the Welshman who came through qualifying with the aim of going one better than his appearance in the final two years ago at The Crucible.

Jones added: "I missed a few easy balls and it turned into a bit of a nightmare.

"I wasn't nervous or anything coming here, but I missed a few balls and in this venue it can get on top of you. You just want to sneak off out of there but you have got to stay and keep going through it.

"Playing someone like Mark, a Crucible specialist, one of the best players ever, you need to settle down early and if you don't, what happened happens.

"I felt good in qualifying last week but that was a week ago, I could've done with my match being Saturday or Sunday and I felt I had completely lost it in the last week. I'm going to go back and start practicing really hard.

"My life away from the game has been a bit of a mess at times, my practice has been pretty bad in the last five or six years and when I got to the world final it was a bit of a miracle, I've been kind of winging it."