X Richard Boxall
Golf
Richard Boxall was forced to withdraw from the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale when he broke his leg while driving on the ninth tee. The portly Englishman had to be carted off the tee in terrible pain but maybe the unlucky break became a lucky one long-term as he has forged a very successful career behind the mic as a commentator since then.

IX Hal Sever
Rugby
With only minutes to go in the 1938 championship decider and Scotland leading by two points, England winger Hal Sever was put through for the winning try. There was no covering player and all he had to do was fall over the line. Instead he inexplicably cut inside where he was tackled and dispossessed by the goalpost. Worse was to follow as the Scots took advantage to go up the field and score the insurance try.

VIII Ken Nagle
Golf
Poor Argentina's Roberto de Vicenzo lost out on a possible Master victory in 1968 because his playing partner Tommy Aaron put him down for a four at the 17th when he in fact shot a three. He lost out by one shot to Bob Goalby instead of forcing a play-off. But Ken Nagle did even worse in a tournament when he signed his nine-hole total in the space allotted for the ninth-hole score. He was thus recorded as having taken 37 strokes at that ninth hole.

VII Jack Dempsey
Boxing
Whenever ring controversies raise their heads over the ages, mention of "the long count" is never far away. It happened in 1927 in Chicago when Gene Tunney retained his heavyweight crown at the expense of Jack Dempsey. In the seventh round Dempsey launched a sustained attack which put the champion on the canvas. Dempsey, in his eagerness to finish him off, didn't retreat to a neutral corner, which meant that the referee didn't start the count for a full five or six seconds after the knockdown. The extra time allowed Tunney to regain his senses and win on points.

VI Miruts Yifter
Athletics
The great Ethiopian didn't live up to his nickname 'Yifter the Shifter' when he missed the start of the Olympics 5,000 metres in Munich because of a prolonged visit to the loo. His bout of constipation was costly as it meant he had to wait eight years for another chance as Ethiopia boycotted the '76 games. In 1980 he made up for it by taking gold in Moscow.

V Dr Alex Mitchell
Rallying
Mitchell had barely travelled 200 yards down the road of the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally start line in Glasgow when he ploughed into a city bus. Undaunted, the medical practitioner decided to try his luck again and this time got out of Glasgow before crashing at Scotch Corner, ending twice and for all, his dream of finishing the race.

IV Hale Irwin
Golf
Golfers are forever hoping to get the ball in the cup, but it left Hale Irwin cursing his luck in 1973. During a tour event his ball actually ended in a spectator's bra. The rules would have allowed him to personally retrieve the ball from where it was, but his preferred lie was to allow the lady do it herself.

III Dave Beasant
Soccer
Chelsea and former Wimbledon goalkeeper Dave Beasant missed several weeks at the start of the '93-'94 season when he dropped a jar of salad-cream on his big toe. What made the accident worse was that he did the damage, severing a tendon, when trying to catch the falling jar with his right foot. Even sadder to relate, the jar was shattered and he was left with a right mess to clean up.

II Devon Loch
Horseracing
There is no hard luck story in the sport of kings which comes near the Devon Loch Affair in the 1956 Aintree Grand National. The Queen Mother's horse was home and almost hosed when, 50 yards from the post, he spread-eagled on the flat, allowing a stunned ESB and an even more stunned crowd, to see defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

I Jack Doyle
Boxing
In 1938 at Harringay in London, Irish great Jack Doyle lost a heavyweight bout against Eddie Phillips for which he was raging hot favourite. How? By lunging at his opponent and putting himself through the ropes, out of the ring and down into the well of the packed venue. By the time he climbed back into the ring, the ref had counted him out and declared the Englishman the winner.

Paul Ronan