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Ronnie O’Sullivan continued to house in on a record-equalling seventh Crucible title on a day when a pigeon fluttered on to centre stage on the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
The avian interloper flew down from the rafters and briefly alighted on the underside cushion as Yan Bingtao ready to interrupt off within the sixth body of his afternoon match towards defending champion Mark Selby.
It was ushered out by way of the gamers’ entrance, previous a startled Selby who was returning to the world, and event officers later confirmed it had been captured and launched unhurt.
Later, O’Sullivan confirmed simply how a lot he fancies emulating Stephen Hendry’s document as he soared right into a 12-4 lead over Mark Allen, which means he wants only one extra body from their concluding session on Saturday to succeed in the final eight for the twentieth time.
O’Sullivan began the match by threatening a most break after potting 10 reds and 9 blacks, and posted an extra break of 131 as he cruised right into a 6-2 lead on the finish of the morning session. Allen received the primary body upon the night resumption however missed the only of pinks with the body at his mercy within the subsequent, and the error proved pivotal as O’Sullivan cleared for 7-3 and would by no means look again.
O’Sullivan received 88 factors into one other potential 147 within the subsequent earlier than operating out of place, then capitalised on a pair of expensive errors by his opponent to boost the actual prospect of wrapping up his last-eight place with a session to area.
Allen prevented that embarrassment with a gutsy break of 110 however O’Sullivan took the ultimate two frames of the night – the final his second century of the match – to make his development on Saturday a formality.
Earlier, Mark Williams did transfer into the final eight with a session to spare, wrapping up a dominant 13-3 win over 20-year-old Jackson Web page, who trains on the three-time champion’s membership in Tredegar. Williams produced among the greatest type of his profession to compile six centuries and eight additional breaks of 50-plus as he rendered Friday evening’s scheduled concluding session out of date.
And he revealed he had piled on the agony for his younger opponent, whom he had additionally fleeced in a card recreation on the eve of what turned out to be the concluding session of their match. “We had dinner on Thursday evening and a recreation of playing cards within the resort reception – I took 15 off him,” revealed Williams. “We are going to do the identical factor once more after this match – simply relax.
“If it was anyone else, I’d like to have received with a session to spare. I don’t really feel like that enjoying Jackson. It’s a great studying curve for him and we are going to see how he bounces again.”
Shell-shocked Web page referred to as Williams’ kind “ridiculous” however the 47-year-old sought to minimize his possibilities of a fourth crown, insisting: “I ain’t a championship contender. I can’t play significantly better than that at my age. I can’t enhance.” Opening with a break of 110 to maneuver additional in entrance, Williams then snatched the tenth body with a clearance to black after Web page missed the final purple to depart him stranded on a highest break of 69.
Two half-centuries within the subsequent body made it 10-1 for Williams, who was fulfilling his tongue-in-cheek declare that he wished to “destroy” Web page, who arrange the assembly with a powerful first-round success over Barry Hawkins. Web page received a second body on the board however Williams was cruel, firing back-to-back centuries after which, after Web page clawed again one other body, ending with a 56 to ebook a last-eight assembly with both Selby or Bingtao.
Selby twice fought again from two frames behind to finish the opening session towards former Masters champion Bingtao all sq. at 4-4, forward of the ultimate two periods of their match on Saturday. Stephen Maguire is 2 frames away from the quarter-finals after surging to an 11-5 lead over reigning UK champion Zhao Xintong forward of their concluding session on Saturday.
Lisowski hits again over Ukraine flag refusal
Jack Lisowski has criticised the World Snooker Tour for refusing to let him put on a Ukraine flag on his waistcoat at this yr’s event in Sheffield. The No 14 seed, who represents England and was born in Cheltenham, has a Ukrainian grandfather.
“Everybody on this room would agree [to] supporting Ukraine so why the hell can’t I put on it?” Lisowski advised the BBC. “It’s one thing that’s near my coronary heart. My grandad is Ukrainian, my dad has been on the market. It is rather unhappy what’s going on over there.”
Lisowski, who will play Neil Robertson within the second spherical, added: “I attempted to put on it [in Sheffield] they usually advised me I couldn’t until I used to be Ukrainian. I’ve received some Ukrainian in me, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient … I need to put on it however I wasn’t allowed.”
The World Snooker Tour (WST) stated in a press release: “Our coverage is to not enable our sport for use as a political platform on the world championship. We’re strongly towards the invasion of any sovereign nation and all types of violence or oppression.
“Our ideas and prayers are with the people who find themselves struggling because of the present battle in Ukraine.”
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