Monday night’s World Cup matches got off to a chaotic start at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield.
The evening session of the third day of the World Snooker Championship started dramatically in Sheffield, England.
The games were interrupted at both racing tables in the Crucible Theater when two activists rushed from the stands to the arena.
One of them managed to corrupt the English by Robert Milkins and Joe Perry’s to the unplayable condition of the table. The activist got on the gaming table and spread the table full of orange powder.
Also on the other side of the screen, one of the activists tried to get up a Northern Irishman by Mark Allen and Chinese Fan Zhengyin to the table, but a Belgian judge Olivier Martel managed to thwart his intentions.
– I’ve never seen anything like it in a snooker championship, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry commented on the broadcast of the British broadcasting company BBC.
Eurosport expert Alan McManus did not digest the activities of the activists.
– Those who seek attention know no limits these days, McManus, winner of the 1994 Masters, updated.
The protest happened a little after 9 PM Finnish time, when both tables were playing the first round of the period.
Snooker’s umbrella organization World Snooker announced at 22:20 that Milkins and Perry will not be able to continue their match on Monday. However, Allen and Zhengyi were able to resume their match after a 40-minute wait.
Allen had 24 points in his hitting streak at the time of the stoppage. The Northern Irishman, one of the tournament’s number one favorites, did not let the protest affect his game, but ended his hitting streak by making a 126-point break. That gave Allen a 7–3 lead.
A tough schedule
In the opening round of the World Cup, matches are played using the best-of-19 system. Therefore, ten won sets are required to win. The matches are played in two periods, of which nine sets are played in the first and the match is played to the end in the second.
The match between Milkins and Perry will start again on Tuesday at 21:00 Finnish time, when, according to the original plan, the second part of the match was supposed to be played.
There is no information yet when the second episode will be able to be played. The World Cup schedule is very tight. The matches have been played in Sheffield at the Crucible Theater since 1977, and matches have never had to be rescheduled before.
In order not to have to postpone all the remaining matches of the first round, the first day of competition that is free from the schedule would be Thursday. At that time, only two periods will be played in the Crucible (Finnish time at 15:00 and 21:00) instead of the usual three in the opening rounds (12:00, 16:30 and 21:00).