White won two earlier matches to reach the final qualifying round

A cricked neck put paid to Jimmy White's attempt to reach the 2008 World Championship as he lost 10-3 to Mark King in the final qualifying round.

King raced to 5-0 and held an 8-1 lead at the end of the morning session, from which White was unable to recover.

White said: "Somehow I cricked my neck on Saturday. I had massages all day on Sunday but it didn't seem to work.

"Perhaps it was caused by the tension of playing in the final qualifier, I don't know. I'm in absolute shreds."

The six-times World Championship runner-up rallied slightly in the afternoon session, winning the first two frames to make it 8-3 before King finished off the match.

After the game, White said: "I couldn't hit a safety shot. I even had a massage between sessions to help me.

"But I'll be back next year. I've been putting the work in recently and I know I'm playing OK."

606: DEBATE Sadly, White is finished in ranking events archicrooks

King added: "Jimmy's got everything, he's done it and got the T-shirt. But he did struggle today. The more pressure I put him under the more he missed."

It is the second successive year that White has failed to reach the televised stages at Sheffield.

John Parrott, who beat White in the 1991 World Championship final, also failed to get past the final qualifying round for this year's event.

Parrott lost 10-8 to Joe Perry, but Liu Chuang, a 17-year-old from China, will make his Crucible debut after edging out Welshman Dominic Dale 10-9.

The first-round draw for the World Championship, which begins on 19 April, takes place on Tuesday, 11 March, at 1300 GMT.

Frame scores (King first): 61-22 66-18 73-19 (61) 58-43 68-0 (68) 30-83 88-0 75-26 72-0 41-94 (90) 38-62 72-4 (72) 78-45 (58)