Mark Williams was involved in an embarrassing moment at the UK Championship that left the crowd in fits of laughter. The three-time world champion was dumped out of the competition on Wednesday, losing at the hands of Pang Junxu in the second round. He slipped to a 6-3 defeat with a freak double pot in the eighth frame proving a crucial turning point.
The first seven frames were evenly matched before Pang began to take control, rattling off the last few to secure a comfortable victory. Williams failed to reach his best level and didn’t even seem to be paying attention during the eighth frame. At one point, he failed to realise that Pang hadn’t potted a ball and had to be summoned back to the table by the referee.
The incident sparked laughter in the crowd and turned out to be a bad omen for Williams, who was unable to win another frame as Pang ploughed on to book his place in round three.
Williams accidentally potted two balls at once later in the eighth frame, playing a great shot on the pink only to knock a red into the middle pocket at the same time.
Speaking afterwards, the 50-year-old lamented his own performance as he admitted it was nowhere near good enough to justify anything other than defeat.
“I thought I was just poor from start to finish,” said Williams. “I know I had two century breaks, but after that I wasn’t very good at all. I mean, I don’t think I potted a ball past six-foot long.
“Just not good enough, but I was a little bit unlucky. I could have gone 4-4. I potted the pink and somehow cut the red into the middle pocket, I don’t know how.
“But even in the last frame, I had a shot off the break where most of the top pros, they bury them. I’m lucky to get one in eight or nine of them, and that’s the difference really.
“To compete and do any good in this tournament, you’ve got to pot them and I just can’t pot them. He was definitely the better player, but if I didn’t pot that red in the middle, it could have gone 4-4, you never know. But no, he deserved to win.”
Pang, meanwhile, will face Neil Robertson in the next round as he looks to secure a spot in the semi-finals of the UK Championship for the first time.
Alan McManus was impressed with Pang’s display against Williams and believes he has nothing to fear against Robertson, telling TNT Sports: “He’s beaten him twice in the last three encounters.
“He’ll be really fancying it on the back of that, probably the performance of his career, given the stage, the quality of the opponent, the occasion.
“Wu Yize’s been stealing all the headlines, as has obviously [Zhao] Xintong and a few others. He’s been just sitting in the background, ready to pounce, and he showed that today, brilliant.”