The gruesome moment a basketball player's EYE pops out during a game leaving him writhing in agony and his teammates recoiling in horror 

  • New Zealand Breakers forward Akil Mitchell suffered a horrific eye injury 
  • His left eyeball popped out of its socket as he challenged for a rebound
  • Players, referees and courtside fans were visibly upset by the awful sight
  • Mitchell tweeted that he was doing fine and was able to see after the match 
  • WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 

By Ollie Gillman For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 17:04 EST, 26 January 2017 | Updated: 12:58 EST, 27 January 2017

A basketball player has suffered a horrific eye injury during a game, leaving his teammates recoiling in horror.

New Zealand Breakers forward Akil Mitchell was left writhing in agony after his left eyeball was poked out of its socket as he challenged Cairns Taipans centre Nnanna Egwu for a rebound.

Extremely graphic footage shows Mitchell falling to the ground with his eye protruding from its socket, as teammates and opponents rush to help him.

The awful injury is too much for some to bear, with players, referees and courtside fans visibly upset by the sight.

Basketball player Akil Mitchell (on the floor) has suffered a horrific eye injury in the middle of a game, leaving his teammates recoiling in horror

Physios ran to Mitchell's aid and treated him for around 15 minutes before placing a towel over his head and escorting him from the court.

As the former University of Virginia player was being cared for, his Breakers teammates huddled in prayer.

He was eventually taken from the North Shore Events Centre, in Auckland, to hospital by ambulance.

Remarkably, Mitchell tweeted a few hours after the accident to say he was doing fine.

Making light of the horror injury, he began his tweet with an emoji of two eyes, adding: 'Too soon? Lol. Thanks for all the love, well wishes, and prayers tonight. I'm home and seeing fine, more tests tomorrow.'

His team went on to lose 94-81 in the National Basketball League (NBL) match on Thursday night.

Extremely graphic footage shows Mitchell falling to the ground with his eye protruding from its socket, as teammates and opponents rush to help him

The awful injury is too much for some to bear, with players, referees and courtside fans visibly upset by the sight

Remarkably, Mitchell tweeted a few hours after the accident to say he was doing fine

The Breakers were given the option of postponing the match, but Mitchell urged them to continue.

Breakers assistant coach Mike Fitchett said: 'Akil said to Pauly (coach Paul Henare) "make sure we win the rebound battle".

'Obviously it's very difficult when you see something like that to carry on but the players were happy for us to carry on.'

Taipans captain Cameron Gliddon sent his best wishes to Mitchell.

'It was really hard to see a player go down like that, it's hard to watch and we all send our thoughts to Akil,' he said. 

The NBL tweeted: 'Our thoughts are with Akil Mitchell following a terrible eye injury.'

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