Princess Royal watched snooker championship final, Mark Selby says
The Northern Ireland Open venue in Belfast was evacuated as a result of a fire alarm that went off in the arena on Wednesday, the World Snooker Tour (WST) confirmed. All play was suspended as authorities awaited to discover the cause of the alarm at the Waterfront Hall, before action recommenced 20 minutes later.
Stan Moody, 17, had been set to face Gary Wilson on day three of the tournament but was forced to wait before taking on the world No 18 as play resumed at 3.37pm, after a 20-minute delay.
A WST statement read: “Due to a fire alarm at the venue, play has stopped. We will keep you informed with any information we receive,” before later adding: “All players, staff and support have been evacuated from the Waterfront Hall. We are still unsure of the cause of the alarm.”
The Discovery+ commentary team did confirm that play would be resumed 20 minutes after the initial statement, as the venue had been checked and cleared for all to return.
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Earlier in the day, Mark Williams suffered an upset as he was defeated 4-2 by Robbie Williams, who secured the biggest win of his career – before being among those told to leave the venue over safety concerns.
The tournament had also seen previous disruption this week after Neil Robertson was forced to use a manual scoreboard during his first-round win over Wu Yize as the electronic scoreboard had malfunctioned.
While controversy clouded the build-up to the event because several star names are not in attendance, having previously decided against competing in Belfast as they preferred to play in an exhibition competition in China instead.
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Having gone against the WST’s rules, Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Ali Carter and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh all faced the prospect of being disciplined before the Wuhan Open was postponed – though none of the ‘Macau 5’ are in action at the Northern Ireland Open.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, who had backed the rebel players, also pulled out as he cited medical concerns as the Rocket continues to manage injuries that include a tennis elbow.
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