A protester disrupts play at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
On one table,where Robert Milkins and Joe Perry were playing,a man leapt onto the table — scattering the balls — and threw orange dye over one half of the baize as boos and shouts of ‘get him off’ came from the audience.
On the other table,featuring a match between Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi,a woman was stopped from getting onto the table by the quick-thinking response of referee Olivier Marteel.
Both protesters were taken away by security,but the incident forced a stoppage in play while the mess was cleaned up.
Play resumed in the Allen-Zhengyi match about 45 minutes later but the affected table in the Milkins-Perry match was covered and will be reclothed overnight. A decision was to be made later Monday regarding whether the Milkins-Perry match would resume following the conclusion of Allen-Zhengyi.
A decision on whether the affected match will be resumed is yet to be made.Credit:PA
Former world champion Stephen Hendry,who was on commentary duties for the BBC,said it was a “scary” incident and feared the cloth on the table might not be able to be used again.
“For me,” Hendry said,“straight away as a snooker player I am thinking,‘Is the table recoverable?’ We don’t know what that is on the table.”