The Blunder That Left Mark Williams Seeing Red

The World Snooker Championship is underway, but not without its hiccups.

Welsh snooker ace Mark Williams has taken a swipe at the BBC for an embarrassing blunder during their World Championship coverage. The three-time champ was leading last year’s semi-finalist Si Jiahui 5-4 in their first session when he noticed the Beeb had labelled him as English.

‘The Welsh Potting Machine’ hasn’t missed out on the second round since 2017, when he failed to qualify but bounced back to win the whole thing the following year.

Against Si, he faced one of the toughest first-round draws in the competition and managed to secure a narrow lead going into the second session.

The pressure is on at the World Snooker Championship.

However, the Cwm-based potter had to take a break from his recovery between sessions to call out the BBC after they slapped an English flag next to his name instead of the Welsh dragon on a green and white backdrop.

The broadcaster’s coverage flashed up Monday’s scores, which also saw Shaun Murphy defeat Lyu Haotian and Joe O’Connor pull off a massive upset over Mark Selby. But Williams was given the same flag and nationality as Englishmen Murphy, Selby and O’Connor.

The World Snooker Championship is a high-stakes competition.

When proof was sent to Williams on X (formerly known as Twitter), he initially responded to one fan with two emojis covering its face, suggesting that he was mortified by the BBC’s gaffe.

Who will win the world title? Only time will tell.