A SNOOKER fan was confronted by referee Marcel Eckardt during the World Snooker Championship.
The official approached the crowd after Stuart Bingham missed a crucial shot in the 29th frame.
Bingham was lining up a shot on the brown, which he needed to sink in order to have any hope of beating Jak Jones at the Crucible.
Jones was one frame away from booking his spot in the final against Kyren Wilson and well on top in the frame.
But as Bingham took his shot, a cough could be heard from the crowd which Marcel later suggested caused the Basildon star to miss his shot.
Eckardt was then spotted approaching the crowd to query who was coughing.
He could be heard asking one person if they were “okay”, however it appeared that they were not the coughing culprit.
Play then resumed as Jones cleared the table and won the frame to knock out Bingham.
Bingham did not lament the coughing that saw him exit the tournament.
He insisted that he had not been good enough throughout the match and failed to replicate the form that saw him knockout Ronnie O’Sullivan.
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He said: “I must have given eight frames away.
“I must have missed eight or nine blacks off the spot.
“I’m very disappointed, after playing like I did against Ronnie. I just didn’t enjoy it out there.”
Eckardt later apologised to snooker fans who did not understand why the match was delayed.
He wrote: “To clear things up: I witnessed misbehaviour on multiple occasions coming from a specific area in the crowd during the last frame which in the end forced a player to miss a crucial shot.
“I do realise that the timing wasn’t great, but I felt that I had to say something.
“It took too long and it was ott considering the circumstances.
“I do apologise to everyone who didn’t understand what was going on. Lesson learnt.”
