Mark Allen criticises British Open conditions – The Irish Times

Mark Allen has hit out at the “embarrassing” playing conditions at the British Open in Cheltenham, adding that the table on which he won his first-round match “needs to be burned”.

Allen, who was world number one from May to August this year, beat Gary Wilson 4-3 at table 2 at the Centaur, a venue at Cheltenham Racecourse. He later claimed that the doors had been left open at the venue, making the playing area “cold and damp” and the table “unplayable”.

“The conditions are really embarrassing,” the Northern Ireland player told ITV. “It’s some of the worst weather outside and they’ve left the doors of the huge transports open. It’s so cold, it’s so wet outside.”

Allen, now world No. 3, led 2-0, 3-2 against Wilson before advancing to the deciding final round. “There are new players at the tables this year and they are clearly not up to the task,” Allen added. “The cushions are unplayable, uncontrollable,” he said. “It was heavy … the table needs to be burned.”

This is not the first time in recent years that the world’s top snooker players have criticised the facilities at ranking tournaments. In January, Ronnie O’Sullivan criticised Alexandra Palace in London, which regularly hosts the Masters tournament. “I find it disgusting,” he said. “Everywhere is filthy. It makes me sick, honestly.”

At the World Championships in April, Iranian player Hossein Vafaei criticised the playing conditions at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. “When you walk around the Crucible, it smells really bad,” Vafaei said, adding that the training room made him “feel like I’m training in my garage”.

Allen, who finished runner-up to Ryan Day at the 2022 Open, doesn’t expect the complaints to have much impact on the World Snooker Tour (WST). “I complain at every tournament, I fill out table report sheets, match report sheets and nothing ever changes.”

“I pride myself on preparing properly for tournaments in good conditions, but I turn up and I don’t have them,” concluded Allen, who will face Cork’s Aaron Hill in the second round. “It’s not good enough.”

In a statement, WST said: “Our table assembly team has been consistent for some time and works to the highest standards. The weather in the area has seen unprecedented rainfall over the last two days which may negatively impact conditions. We have raised the issue of an open house with the venue.”

Hill claimed one of the finest wins of his career by eliminating Ding Junhui. The world number 63 came from two sets down to defeat the Chinese star, racking up a century in the process. His match against Allen is at 2pm today.

Elsewhere, Judd Trump recorded his 999th career century in a 4-1 win over Robert Milkins. Trump’s break of 104 in the first innings leaves him a ton away from joining Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins as the only players to have reached that milestone.

The world number one had a chance to break the thousand-shot barrier in style in the fifth and final set of the match. Trump looked set to make the maximum break, but he missed the 11th black on a break of 81. Higgins, who had only achieved the feat last week at the English Open, comfortably beat fellow Scot Ross Muir 4-1.

Reigning British Open champion Mark Williams suffered a shock 4-1 defeat to Malaysia’s Rory Thor, while Ali Carter lost a decider to Hungary’s Bulcsu Revesz.

World champion Kyren Wilson had no such problems, winning 4-0 against Julien Leclercq. Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from his scheduled first-round match against Thailand’s Manasawin Phetmalaikul on Monday morning.