BERLIN - German billiards player Martin Horn has broken his foot in an unfortunate fall and is out for two months. As a result, Horn will almost certainly miss the World Cup in Bogota and probably the World championship for national teams in Viersen. The billiard player is in hospital in Berlin with a complicated ankle fracture.
Last weekend, Martin Horn had to play two bundesliga matches with his BC International team. In the days before the match, Horn fell down on a slippery pavement in front of the appartment where he was staying. ''I was walking from the restaurant to my flat in the dark and could not see the ice on the pavement, so I fell down''
Horn was carted off to hospital, where he underwent his first surgery on the ankle joint last Wednesday. A second operation, to put a plate in the foot, will follow this week on Thursday. ''My right foot was at a 90-degree angle after the accident. They straightened that in the surgery. It looks like I won't be able to walk for the first few weeks. When I am allowed to go home, I will have to continue recovery there. I will get a special shoe, but it will definitely take until early April before I can make my come-back in billiards.'' Horn was in Berlin to prepare for the matches with BC International against Erhagen. Without Horn (among others with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Sam van Etten, Christian Rudolph, Gökhan Salman and Markus Dömer), BC International won the matches 5-3 and 6-2.
With almost 100 per cent certainty, Martin Horn will miss the next World Cup in Bogota. That tournament is played from February 26 to March 3. The World Nations championship in Viersen is from 21 to 24 March.
Martin Horn is the number 9 in the world rankings.
Martin Horn has to stay in hospital for his second sergury