Cue high drama as snooker causes stir at Crucible

The sport has seen two of its most high-profile players threatened with a ban for outbursts on Twitter and a post-match interview, which not only managed to upset snooker chief Barry Hearn and the sport’s home, but the entire nation of China.

That is without even looking at what actually happened in this week’s first-round matches, which have seen a record eight seeds – half of the game’s elite – crash out at the first hurdle. You have to go back to 1992 for a similar number of first-round casualties.

Not a ball had been potted when double world champion Mark Williams had a little rant on social networking site Twitter, criticising the Crucible and stating his wish that the World Championship would be switched to China.

It prompted some boos on his entrance to the arena, more akin to a pantomime villain, when he ventured out for his opening round with Sheffield-based Liu Chuang.

It did not trouble the Welshman however, as he chalked up a 10-6 win to set up this afternoon’s second-round meeting with a rejuvenated Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Probably the biggest surprise of the week has been that the mercurial Essex potter has kept a relatively low profile, apart from his haircut halfway through his opening match.

Chuang – one of three Chinese players along with Ding Junhui and Cao Yupeng who live in the Steel City and play out of the Star Snooker Academy – put up a spirited performance and the 21-year-old rookie’s fightback surprised Williams, Crucible champion in 2000 and 2003.

“I probably should have won it a lot earlier and every frame he was winning, I was starting to feel a bit more pressure,” he said. “At one stage, I was sat in my chair wondering how many more he was going to pull back. I’m just over the moon to scrape through.

“I’ve been owing Ronnie one for 10 years. Let’s hope that this time I beat him.”

On his Twitter trouble, Williams added: “I’ve apologised to the staff and the people who run the Crucible. It just came out wrong.

“That it’s not one of my favourite venues was what I was trying to get across.”

Liu Chuang added: “It’s my second Crucible appearance. The first time, four years ago, I was nervous but this year I wasn’t as nervous. I didn’t feel like I played my best. Hopefully, Cao Yupeng will play well and make the Chinese fans proud.”

Cao concludes his second-round match today against Ryan Day 6-2 down, and the two are part of the eight ‘giant-killers’ from the first week.

Day stunned world No 10 Ding 10-9, and Cao ousted World Open winner Mark Allen 10-6.

That defeat prompted an ugly outburst from Northern Irishman Allen, who accused Cao of not calling a foul on himself during the match for an alleged push shot, before going on to suggest he was not the only Chinese player to fall foul when it comes to the game’s etiquette.

Allen swiftly followed it up with an apology but not before World Snooker chairman Hearn launched a scathing attack on both Allen and Williams for their outbursts and promised to penalise them if they are found guilty of “bringing the game into disrepute”.

Allen’s apology read: “Following my recent comments in the press conference after my first round defeat to Cao Yupeng, I would like to formally apologise to anyone who may have been offended.

“Having taken some time to reflect on my comments, I can appreciate that I over-stepped the line at a time when I was heavily influenced by the emotions of a disappointing defeat.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Cao Yupeng if he felt that my comments were insinuating he was a cheat. I stand by my opinion that the shot in question was a foul, but I also stand by my previous comments in the press conference that Cao was the better player and fully deserved to win. I would also like to apologise to World Snooker. I appreciate the hard work done by many people to grow our sport and I am truly horrified to think that my actions could be perceived to be detrimental to this.

“I realise that I need to ensure that my off-table behaviour matches the standard and level of professionalism I set for my on table etiquette.”

The loss of eight top seeds – partly due to snooker’s expanded tour which means players outside of the top 32 now play more snooker and in turn have improved their game – has left the race to be crowned champion on May 7 wide open. World No 1 Mark Selby is out, last year’s finalist Judd Trump crawled over the line against Dominic Dale complaining of a bout of food poisoning and former champions Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty all packed their bags early for their summer holidays.

Defending champion John Higgins failed to impress with his opening 10-9 win over Liang Wenbo, and he is on the brink of defeat to Stephen Hendry today when their match concludes, as he trails 12-4.

Between them, Higgins and Hendry possess 11 World Championship titles and the Crucible old guard have been put on alert that a new generation of grafters and talented cueman are threatening the game’s status quo.

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