After eliminating the world number one and defending champion Selby in the 1/8 final of the 2022 Snooker World Championship, the performance of China's post-00s young player Yan Bingtao has been widely praised, after all, in a season, the ranking game has won four victories over Selby, which is only Yan Bingtao can do in the current snooker industry. However, in the past few days, around the 18th inning of that game, Yan Bingtao's request to the referee to wipe the mother ball (white ball) at the moment of chasing points has still triggered some criticism from snooker celebrities. On April 25, Yan Bingtao also responded to this, saying that he was nervous at the time, and the request to wipe the ball was just a joke to ease the atmosphere of the scene.
That game took a lot of time, because the two players were similar in style, both known for their caution and good at safety, and they were good at defending, so it was also called the "battle of the big and small grinding kings" by fans. In the 18th inning, Yan Bingtao was in a state of chasing points, and he had to clear all the color balls on the table to reverse Selby to win. However, when preparing to hit the coffee ball, the blue ball seems to block the route of the mother ball, and the blue ball is between the mother ball and the coffee ball, and it is very delicate to see or not see the next ball point. In order to see if he could directly hit the coffee ball into the mouth of the bag, Yan Bingtao squinted four times to observe the situation. He was very cautious, and made the fans wait for more than two minutes in the process, and the fans not only did not boo, but waited patiently, and even gave a kind laugh.
In the end, Yan Bingtao made up his mind to hit, and it can be seen from the live broadcast replay that there is a slight jump after the mother ball is hit, passing by the blue ball with the smallest distance difference, accurately hitting the coffee ball, which falls into the bag in response, while the obstacle ball blue ball is motionless, yan Bingtao's adventure is successful. He then hit the clearance, and the game won 63-52, the big score reached 11:7, and finally advanced successfully. After the game, Selby also "admitted to gambling and losing", generously congratulated Yan Bingtao, he not only did not express any dissatisfaction, but also praised Yan Bingtao after the game as "very smart and excellent".
However, controversy came. Several guests from the British live broadcasting agency, including well-known commentator David Hendon, snooker star Jimmy White and McManus, expressed dissatisfaction with Yan Bingtao's request to the referee to wipe the mother ball in the 18th game, and it turned out that in the process of Yan Bingtao's long examination and repeated observation of the situation on the stage, he had asked the referee to wipe the mother ball. Snookers are known to make this reasonable request during the game for fear of static electricity generated by billiard balls during friction and hitting. These guests believe that it is inappropriate to make such a request at this most delicate and ambiguous moment, and it is a "chicken thief" behavior, because although the referee has a fixed positioning device for the mother ball in his hand, in the process of picking up the ball and putting it back in place, it is inevitable to produce a slight deviation, and once this deviation causes the white ball to benefit Even a very small displacement in favor of Yan Bingtao, it will also make Yan Bingtao profit.
Although the referee at the time of the match, Rob Spencer, smiled and refused Yan Bingtao's request, the two sides did not have any more disputes about it, and the long-awaited audience did not have any dissatisfaction, but McManus in the live guest was still unforgiving after the match day, and repeatedly expressed his disapproval of Yan Bingtao's behavior, believing that he was playing a clever trick and wanted to profit.
In the snooker rules, Yan Bingtao did not have any violations, and his request was reasonable. And the referee judged the situation, in the subtle moment of the possibility of controversy, it is also reasonable to refuse Yan Bingtao's request to wipe the ball, do it very appropriately and smile to deal with it, Yan Bingtao did not entangle anymore, so from the comments of some fans on the Internet, it can be seen that there are more support for Yan Bingtao, thinking that he and the referee are correct, "The player has the right to make a request, the referee also has the right to refuse, and others should not talk about it anymore." ”
Two days later, Yan Bingtao finally gave his opinion and response, he said: "I chose to let the referee clean up the white ball because I was too nervous. I wanted to adjust the atmosphere and try to relax myself. I know the referee will not agree to my request. I was just joking with him to ease the tension. I will try to win the next game. ”
Of course, McManus also re-gave his attitude after calming down, according to the British media report, McManus said that he also reflected, and looked back at the game, personal previous views of Yan Bingtao was wrong, the situation in the game was quite tricky at that time, the players made a reasonable and rapid response to the situation, this is a normal move, but the situation was special at the time, so it may be seen as wanting to illegally profit.
Everything is calm, Yan Bingtao will start in the afternoon of the 25th Beijing time in the 8-in-4 match against the "golden left hand" Mark Williams, hoping that he will not be affected by any impact and take a new step in his career.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin