Snooker: Jimmy White was given a rude awakening by Finland's Robin Hull as his disastrous season went from bad to worse in Prestatyn yesterday.
White, who failed to reach the concluding phase of the campaign's first three ranking events, was beaten 9-4 in the final qualifying round for the UK Championship.
And his cause was not helped by a change to the playing schedule because of a dance rave at the Pontin's holiday camp in North Wales where snooker's qualifiers are staged.
Noise from the Ultimate After Party event bled through to the arena on Saturday, which led tournament organisers to start Sunday's play at 9am - an hour earlier than planned - and curtail the opening session at 12pm in time for the dance weekend's grand finale.
White, not renowned for his love of early mornings, trailed 4-3 going into the final session and could win only one of the six frames contested when they resumed at 4.30pm.
The 44-year-old, the UK champion in 1992, is 51st in the provisional list but is now likely to fall several further places and faces a fight to keep his professional status. Only the top 64 in the rankings at the end of the season will be eligible to play on the circuit in 2007-08.
Jamie Cope, the surprise runner-up in last month's Royal London Watches Grand Prix, was beaten 9-4 by Glasgow's Jamie Burnett to miss out on a place in York.
Maltese veteran Tony Drago will also be missing from the line-up next month after going down 9-1 to Ricky Walden.
