Snooker star Neil Robertson apologises to referee after rare Crucible mishap but still faces fine

Neil Robertson suffered from an awkward miscalculation during his first round match at the World Snooker Championship.

The unfortunate incident occurred during the second frame of his match against Pang Junxu.

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Robertson had won the opening frame to take the lead against his Chinese opponent.

Pang built a 57-10 advantage in the following stanza before Robertson missed a routine black to reduce the deficit.

The Australian responded by conceding the frame, thinking he was 57 points behind and needed snookers to win.

However, he instead trailed by just 47, with three red balls still on the table.

In conceding the frame too early, Robertson is now in line for a £250 fine.

His mishap stunned snooker player and BBC commentator Ken Doherty, who reacted by saying: “Well, what’s happened there?

“He’s actually conceded when he could still win. Absolutely disgusted with missing that black.

“That’s very unusual for Neil Robertson to do something like that. You don’t really see that in the game anymore. That’s going to cost him the first frame to Pang Junxu. Now it’s one frame all.”

Costly error

Robertson was approached by referee Terry Camilleri after conceding the frame, with the official explaining he had only been 47 behind.

At first, the world No.3 attempted to argue it had been a 57-point difference before Camilleri brought the score up on a replay.

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After realising his error, Robertson said: “I miscalculated the score. Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Fellow former world champion Doherty added: “Not only will he be getting warned, he’ll incur a fine for that as well. £250 that cost him.

“You don’t see that anymore because there were a few players doing it a few years ago, that’s why they brought in the warning and the fine to stop players conceding frames when there’s enough points on the table to win.”

Robertson, who won the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in 2010, recovered to win the third frame.

The 44-year-old ended the session with a 5-4 lead after trading frames with his opponent.

Pang was able to reduce the deficit with a 122 break in the final frame before play ended.

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The best of 19 frames encounter is scheduled to resume at 7pm on Thursday.

A second round clash with 13th seed Chris Wakelin awaits the winner this weekend.