Mark Allen to miss 2012 Australian Goldfields Open snooker event – Snooker News
Winner of the 2012 Haikou World Open snooker tournament, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen was up against China’s Cao Yupeng in the opening round of the 2012 World Snooker Championship where he lost to the Chinese cueman by the score line of 10-6. Allen was
not playing according to his usual high standards and tumbled down in the clash.
After the match, the Northern Irishman accused the Chinese potter of cheating saying the Yupeng made a blatant push during the first frame match. He made some offensive remarks and also said that all Chinese potters are cheats which was not taken easily
by the critics.
While speaking to the local media after the match, Allen said, “I thought the big turning point was at 5-4 when he was in the balls and... the referee missed a blatant push. It was quite obvious to me and anyone who was watching at home would have been able
to see it.”
Despite his bad remarks, Allen did apologise afterwards to the Chinese potter. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took notice of his remarks afterwards and launched a hearing over the issue.
After taking all information into consideration, the association fined Allen £10,000 along with £1,000 for the hearing. The association also suspended the Pistol for three months which will affect him in the upcoming events.
The Association stated, “The WPBSA Disciplinary Committee consider that this behaviour is unacceptable and offensive to China and the Chinese players. Such behaviour will not be tolerated by the WPBSA.”
Due to the three-month ban, Allen will not be able to take part in the upcoming 2012 Australian Goldfields Open snooker tournament at the Bendigo Stadium arena in Victoria, Australia. Missing the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open will definitely affect his
world ranking position. However, he still has many other major ranking snooker events where he can perform well to improve his ranking.
It will be interesting to see what type of impact Allen will have during the new snooker season as he returns from his ban. The fans will be looking forward to seeing him battle it out against some of the top snooker players of the world.
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