Judd Trump left frustrated in 'ludicrous' ball-placement farce at World Snooker Championship

ByEurosport

Updated 31/07/2020 at 19:22 GMT

Judd Trump was left frustrated as the referee and an assistant official spent nearly five minutes deciding where to place the balls after a foul at the World Snooker Championship.

There was a bizarre extended hold-up after Trump failed to escape from a safety by his opponent, Tom Ford, and committed a foul on the pink while leading 54-17 in the frame and trailing 5-4 in the match.

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The referee, German Marcel Eckardt, and his assistant marker, Ben Williams, who was watching a freeze frame, proceeded to have a real struggle establishing where the balls should be placed after the mistake.

'It's nonsense!' - Judd Trump ball-placement incident prompts frustration

An agonising wait of nearly five minutes ensued as both Trump and Ford watched on perplexed and frustrated, while Eurosport commentator Neal Foulds made his agitation known.

"Listen, you don't want to start me off on how this isn't the way to do it, surely," Foulds said on Eurosport commentary.

I mean, it's ludicrous that this is having to go on with a marker and a referee. This is like something from about 30 years ago, isn't it?

"There are other ways of working out where the balls are. It's nonsense!

"This is an example of how to make something that could be sorted out in 20 seconds, last five minutes.

"Come on guys, get on with it! I think we should just be playing."

Judd Trump

Image credit: Eurosport

Trump looked visibly frustrated by the exchange and repeatedly muttered: "No. It's not right, I don't think it's right."

Thankfully, when the officials finally did get there with the ball placements, Trump found the red he needed at the second attempt to ensure everyone did not have to go through the whole thing again.

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