LOS ANGELES, April 7 — World number one Dustin Johnson withdrew from the Masters in Augusta yesterday after injuring his back in a freak fall down stairs on the eve of the tournament.
Johnson is just the latest in a long line of athletes who have ended up on the sidelines after suffering accidental injuries.
Here AFP looks at five of the most bizarre sporting mishaps:
Derrick Rose
The injury-prone NBA star needed 10 stitches to his arm in 2008 after his attempt to slice an apple in bed went awry. The precocious then-rookie suffered the injury after rolling onto the knife he had used to carve the piece of fruit.
Darius Vassell
Former Aston Villa and England striker Vassell attempted to speed up his recovery from a swollen toe in unorthodox fashion — by using an electric drill to bore through a nail in an attempt to relieve pressure.
It led to an infection and forced Vassell to miss three games in 2002.
Jason Pierre-Paul
New York Giants star Pierre-Paul suffered career-threatening injuries when a July 4 celebration went badly wrong in 2015. The hulking defensive end attempted to light a firework in his hand, which exploded, leading to the loss of his right index finger.
Santiago Canizares
Spain’s first-choice goalkeeper was looking forward to the 2002 World Cup when he arrived at the team’s training camp in Jerez, Spain, just weeks before the finals in South Korea and Japan. But his hopes of playing in the tournament ended when he dropped a bottle of aftershave in his bathroom, severing tendons in his foot.
Rio Ferdinand
The Manchester United and England defender suffered one of the most infamous injuries of modern times during his spell with Leeds in the early 2000s. The centre-half ended up in the treatment room after an extended period watching television with his feet on a coffee table damaged tendons in his knee. — AFP
