Crucible Tables Come Under Fire
The tables at the Snooker World Championships at the Crucible came under severe criticism last night.
There were far too many kicks and on some occasions the ball drifted two or three inches of course, leading on one occasion to Stephen Hendry potting the white off a touching ball to his utter bemusement.
Joe Swail described the snooker table he played on as an “absolute joke” following his 10-5 defeat to Matthew Stevens at the World Championship.
The Northern Ireland player believes a number of ‘kicks’ affected his form.
“I’m absolutely disgusted with the table. There was a ‘kick’ every other shot,” he said.
“When you’re on a break and trying to win a frame the last thing you want to worry about is getting a ‘kick’. It’s an absolute joke.”
Stevens agreed with his opponent, although he was less venomous in his criticism.
“There were loads of ‘kicks’, every fifth or sixth shot it seemed, and it was frustrating,” said the Welshman.
“But it’s the same for both players and there’s nothing you can do apart from get on with it.”
Elsewhere Mark Williams beat Anthony Hamilton 10-1 andMarco Fu beat Alan McManus 10-3.
Ronnie O’Sullivan leads Dave Harold 7-2 and Nigel Bond leads Stephen Hendry 6-3
