After dropping the opening round of the new Riyadh Season event to Luca Brecel, Ali Carter lost his cool with the Saudi officials.
In the first-ever Middle Eastern Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker, Carter did not have a good time. He lost to 2023 world champion Brecel 4-1, and as a result, he was eliminated in the opening round.
The eighth-ranked player in the world has developed a reputation for having a fiery temperament as a result of his intense rivalry with Ronnie O’Sullivan. In spite of his absence on Tuesday in Riyadh, the Rocket managed to find something to rile him up.
Carter was agitated during the fourth frame by the Global Theatre’s sluggish scoreboard. The 44-year-old missed a straightforward brown after checking the scoreboard repeatedly. Strangely, he chose to bring up the incident in a heated post-match interview after getting soundly defeated by Brecel.
He stated on Eurosport, “I’m clearing up, I want to go on, and the scorer got the score wrong. “I’ve surprised [the blue] by believing I can play any position at all. Suddenly, as I glance at the scoreboard, I find myself wondering, “Have I miscalculated?” This has completely thrown me off rhythm.
“I reasoned that in order to draw, I needed to pot the brown. I’m not sure how it happened, but I was staring at the blue when the referee announced, “I’m on 41 and I’m 22 behind,” or something like that. It just threw me for a loop. I wasn’t on the green or the yellow right.
The brown one…It was really rather annoying. Very, very poor indeed.”
Carter was not in the best of moods going into the match, having been irritated by the lengthy wait following an incredible game between Mark Selby and Mark Allen. Allen’s thrilling 4-3 victory caused Carter’s match to start more than two hours later than planned.
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