Snooker star left with egg on his face after forgetting rules and admitting loss
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Snooker star Gary Wilson was left embarrassed at the Shanghai Masters after offering his hand to opponent Fan Zhengyi to congratulate him on his victory, not realising that the match was over and there were several frames still to play. The sport returned to China for the first time since 2019 after a four-year absence, but the first tie saw an awkward moment between the two players.
Home star Fan had raced into a 4-1 lead over Wilson despite the Englishman rolling in a 57 break in the first frame, but was set to go 5-1 down after Fan won the sixth frame 90-1. As an act of sportsmanship, Wilson held out his hand to the 22-year-old to congratulate him on his victory and wish him luck in the second round.
However, Wilson was perplexed when his handshake was snubbed only to be informed by the referee that he was in fact playing a best-of-11 match as opposed to a best-of-nine and that Fan still needed to win one more frame to advance to the next round.
Wilson soon realised he had made a mistake and chuckled as he returned to his seat, shrugging his shoulders on the way as he was made aware that he had a second chance to mount a comeback against Fan.
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He was unable to make the most of that opportunity, however, as 65, 96, 90 and 71 helped Fan progress to a meeting with Mark Allen. Wilson’s blunder revealed that he was unaware of the tournament’s format, which is best-of-11 frames up to and including the quarter-finals, while the semis and final are best-of-19 and best-of-21 frames respectively.
Fan came out on top after an unorthodox victory, something he may be used to though after previously refusing to hit century breaks when he first turned professional as he wanted his opening maximum to be a 147.
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After three years as a pro deliberately not hitting a century break, before nearly turning his ambition into reality at the World Snooker Championships, but missed a difficult 13th red and later abandoned his project – as he will be hoping to make more maximums in the next round of the Shanghai Masters against Allen.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is looking to retain his title, last won in 2019 after a four-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while the Rocket has won the last three editions of the tournament that many have been eagerly awaiting to return.
In 2018, the Masters became a 24-man invitational event that this year includes O’Sullivan, World Snooker Championship winner Luca Brecel, John Higgins and Mark Williams among a host of the sport’s top names.
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