An International Championship commentator complained about an “orchestra” of phone noises going off during Xiao Guodong’s match against Chris Wakelin. Xiao was able to keep his composure despite attempting to line up a shot with phone noises audible in the background.
The Chinese star went on to lose a thrilling semi-final 9-8 and was clearly unhappy with the noises. Eurosport’s commentary team claimed he “read the riot act” off-camera after bleeps were heard in the audience.
Crowds at snooker matches are generally expected to remain quiet out of respect to the players. That includes spectators turning off mobile phones.
Xiao was lining up a shot while leading 47-30 in the second frame, which had been won by Wakelin. “Looking at the pink, pink is the more difficult pot. It’s the positive shot to play, beyond those two reds,” remarked Eurosport’s co-commentator.
However, mobile phones were then heard as Xiao continued to ponder his options.
The main commentator observed: “There’s an orchestra of phones going off, meanwhile. It’s not ideal… But Xiao is able to retain concentration and Xiao leaves us reading the riot act.
“Twenty-three [is] the lead, 43 left.”
Wakelin went on to survive a remarkable comeback by Xiao. The Englishman led 8-3 and seemed to be cruising into the final. However, he failed to close out the match Xiao struck back, incredibly levelling the score at 8-8.
All that effort from Xiao was for very little, though. Wakelin won the deciding frame and will play either Ding Junhui or Xu Si in the final. The second semi-final takes place on Saturday.
“I’ve worked my entire life at this game for moments like this,” Wakelin told the World Snooker Tour after beating Xiao.
“From 8-5 I threw it away. I made ridiculously easy mistakes. In the decider I knew it was now or never, I had to forget about what had happened.
“I’m so relieved to have a day off tomorrow because I’m done in. That was the hardest match of my life.
“In the first ten years of my career, so many times I put myself in winning situations in matches, but didn’t take those chances.
“This was my final because getting into the top 16 was the goal. But now the shackles are off and I know I have performances like that in me.”