EVER felt so embarrassed at a pool table that you wanted to disappear inside one of the pockets?
I did last week.
Whilst interviewing Taiwan's double world champion Wu Chia-ching at Klassic Cuesports, someone thought it might be worth a laugh if I played a few rounds of 9-Ball with him.
He was right: It was funny pitting a casual pub player against one of the world's best. But the experience wasn't just humourous - it was humiliating.
Wu, for the record, was here in Singapore as a sparring partner for the national team, a move that has sparked considerable hysteria in Taiwan, where speculation is mounting that he may become the Republic's latest foreign import.
But while he may been frustrated by all the media hoopla back home, the 20-year-old remains a consummate professional on the table, even against a rank amateur like yours truly.
"Go easy on me," he joked, as he lined up to break the first rack.
Two minutes later, I was racking up again, without having gone to the table yet.
Wu was showing exactly why he is known as "The Little Genius" by his peers. His stroking movement was incredibly consistent and he reads the table in a flash, knowing quickly how best to untangle the puzzle of balls and numbers on the table.
Source: STARHUB
His positioning is also impeccable, always within an inch or two of the desired 'sweet spot'.
If pool is all about physics then this man is a Nobel laureate.
When it was finally my turn to take to the table, I missed. But the cue ball spun behind the black, hiding from the pink that was a full table length away. A safety shot, albeit an unintended one.
No problem, said Wu. With just the right amount of top-spin, he promptly bounced the cue ball off two rails to hit the pink - and 'snookered' me in the process.
And when the centre pocket swallowed up my cue ball on the next shot, I knew that the gig was up.
The final score was 0-3 in favour of the world champion. No surprise there.
Maybe 8-Ball would be a better bet, I suggested.
Fat chance. Wu allowed me to break, and my response was to propel the cue ball out of the table, narrowly missing a member of the Singapore national team who had been smirking the entire time.
Wu politely retrieved the errant ball, and proceeded to clear the deck. 10 minutes and two games later, I had truly been beaten black, blue and yellow.
Throughout the entire experience, he never even smiled once - that was how serious the guy took the game.
Mercifully though, it was soon time for me to go, with my proverbial tail firmly between my legs.
And as I turned to leave, Wu had already returned to the table, potting shot after shot with that same unsmiling look of intense concentration.
For this world champion, there is no such thing as playing pool 'for fun'.