Neil Robertson will have a fine in the post after conceding a frame early, although he didn’t even realise he had done it.
The Thunder from Down Under is taking on Pang Junxu in the first round of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible, with the first session starting on Wednesday night.
The Australian took the first frame but the second ended prematurely and in Pang’s favour thanks to a poor bit of mental maths from Robertson.
The 44-year-old conceded the frame when he was 47 points behind with three reds left on the table, meaning he could still win without needing snookers.
Players can do this, but they will receive a warning from the referee and be handed a £250 fine for their actions.
It was an extremely strange thing to do in any tournament, but especially the World Championship and it turned out Robertson did not even realise he had done it.
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Instead, he thought he was 57 points behind and had simply got his sums wrong.
‘Well, what’s happened there?’ Ken Doherty questioned on BBC commentary. ‘He’s actually conceded when he can still win.
‘That’s very unusual for Neil Robertson to do something like that. You don’t really see that in the game anymore, but it’s going to cost him Pang Junxu’s first frame. Now 1-1.’
Robertson’s friend and mentor Joe Perry was also on commentary duty and quickly realised what the sometimes absent-minded Aussie had done.
‘I’m not entirely sure Neil realised he could still win,’ said Perry. ‘That’s totally out of character for Neil. He’s going to get a warning from the referee, then he’ll realise what he’s done.’
Referee Terry Camilleri did indeed warn Robertson, who looked very confused before realising his error.
Perry continued: ‘I thought it was a miscalculation from Neil because he would never do that, ever. Just a complete miscalculation of the score. There was no petulance or anger, just a complete miscalculation.
‘That’ll be a nice little fine in the post!’
Doherty explained: ‘You don’t really see that anymore. There were a few players doing it a few years ago, that’s why they brought in the warning and the fine to stop players conceding frames when there was enough points on the table to win. Pang Junxu won’t be too displeased!’
Robertson is usually switched on during games, but has been known to have the odd mental lapse in his career.
In 2019 he was meant to be playing in a World Open qualifier in the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley, but accidentally drove to the wrong Barnsley, a village in Gloucestershire, and was forced to forfeit the match.
Just last year he again missed a qualifier for the same event, this time because he got the wrong date, thinking he was playing a day later than he actually was.