‘Not good for the fans’ – Snooker rivals walk out of arena mid-frame as semi-final match is bizarrely suspended
Kyren Wilson proved he is a man of the people thanks to a mid-match gesture that sparked a bizarre pause in play.
Wilson was down 5-4 in his Shanghai Masters semi-final against reigning world champion Zhao Xintong when disaster struck for those inside the Luwan Gymnasium.
After Xintong missed a black when up 23-0 in the tenth frame, Wilson noticed there was a major error with the scoreboard at the venue.
And by major error, the score wasn’t even showing up.
It prompted Wilson into action as he said to his opponent: “Zhao, can we wait? Can we wait, yeah?”
Wilson’s request for a momentary pause got the female referee involved.
The 33-year-old said: “It’s (the scoreboard) no good.
“I would rather wait for the scoring (to return). It’s no good for the fans because the fans can’t see the score. Shall we say how long it takes?”
The referee reminded Wilson that because the match was on live television, there was no guarantee she could grant his wish of having the game paused.
But after a brief conversation with the tournament director, the decision was made for Wilson and Xintong to take a quick breather backstage.
With the players away from the baize, commentator David Hendon said: “It’s no good this, is it? Let’s be honest.
“This is a big, big match, the players just want to play it. Now they are going off.
“The thing is this, it’s not between frames, there has been a session that has been finished. So why isn’t the scoreboard working for the next session?
“I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask that. For now, the players have gone off.
“Hopefully, the delay won’t be too long. We are looking to seeing how this session pans out.”
How did the rest of Wilson’s clash unfold?
A total of six-and-a-half minutes elapsed between Xintong’s miss and Wilson returning to pot a red.
From there, it was utter domination from the 2023 world champion.
From 5-4 down, Wilson rattled off six frames in a row to beat his Chinese rival 10-5 and end his 26-match win streak.
Wilson will face fellow Englishman Ali Carter in the final thanks to his 10-8 win over Mark Selby.
The victor of the all-English final in Shanghai will take home a cool £210,000, with the runner-up to take home £105,000.
If Wilson wants to take home the bigger of the six-figure prizes, he can’t afford to play any trick shots like he did in the round of 16 against Si Jiahui.
On 98 and only needing to pot the black, Wilson decided he’d play up to the crowd and attempt a no-look shot.
It ultimately backfired as he smashed the black into the corner, although it mattered little in the grand scheme of things as Wilson recorded a 6-5 win.
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