Ronnie O’Sullivan displayed “unbelievable” sportsmanship during an incident in his quarter-final against Stuart Bingham at the World Snooker Championship.
O’Sullivan was leading 6-5 in the best-of-25 contest, and down 14 points in the 12th frame, when the bizarre moment occurred after he had potted the black.
Referee Desislava Bozhilova attempted to re-spot the black ball – a delicate operation with the white ball in such close proximity and the black ball rocking off its spot slightly.
Bozhilova felt the black was on its spot but O’Sullivan was unconvinced and appeared unhappy to accept the benefit of being able to pot the next red into the left corner pocket as a result of the black’s position.
Despite Bingham’s indifference, O’Sullivan refused to pot the red and instead opted to play a safety shot. O’Sullivan went on to lose the frame, and fellow world champion Neil Robertson hailed the extraordinary moment.
“He played safe even though he could pot the red. It’s unbelievable,” Robertson said, analysing the match for BBC Sport.
“This is probably one of the greatest bits of sportsmanship I have ever seen in any sport. That’s incredible.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Six-time world champion Steve Davis was less impressed, however.
“It was an unsettling moment,” he said. “Unfortunately for Ronnie it became a problem.
“He wanted to know if the ball was on the spot and whether he could get through to the red. I think, though, the end result was that he probably couldn’t pot it anyway.”
The match’s second session concluded at eight frames each ahead of the final session on Wednesday.