This is the agonising moment when a man is accidentally speared by a broken pool cue during a game in China.

CCTV footage of the bizarre shot shows a player – named as Mr Wang in local media – taking careful aim for a break to start the game in the city of Shanwei, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

But as he lets fly with the powerful shot, his cue falls apart and while he is left holding the blunt end, the sharp end flies forward like a spear straight into the stomach of a pal.

The pal holds his gut in apparent agony and limps away out of the camera as the worried player runs after him holding half of the cue.

Mr Wang told local media he was worried he’d hurt his friend, who luckily got away with scratching and bruising.

They shared the video on Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok – where netizens made dozens of jokes about the situation, saying that the cue accidentally poked the man’s kidneys.

One user, under the handle ‘sim cub’, jokingly commented: “I can see that buddy is playing darts.”

And ‘ruthless’ said: “Dude used to throw javelins.”