Ronnie O’Sullivan told he makes fastest TV century EVER in 204 seconds… before U-turn by bungling tour chiefs
RONNIE O’Sullivan thought he had hit the fastest century in a professional snooker match – until bungling officials realised they had cocked-up the clock.
World Snooker Tour and Eurosport TV commentators jointly claimed the rapid Rocket last night scored one hundred points in just three minutes and 24 seconds (204 seconds).
GettyAmid the confusion over timings, O’Sullivan knocked out China’s Bai Langning in the Scottish Open[/caption]
The speedy ton came in frame two of his 4-0 win over China’s Bai Langning in the first round of the Scottish Open in Edinburgh.
This mark smashed the previous record of three minutes and 31 seconds (211 seconds) set by Malta favourite Tony Drago at the 1996 UK Championship by seven seconds.
However less than an hour later, red-faced chiefs realised there was a major error with the timing – and the break was actually compiled in three minutes 34 SECONDS.
This is despite TV presenters congratulating seven-time world snooker champion O’Sullivan for supposedly surpassing Drago, 57, in the record books and praising referee Rob Spencer for keeping up with the whirlwind performance.
READ MORE ON SNOOKER
And the incorrect time was also tweeted out by World Snooker Tour – who have close to 200,000 followers on Twitter – before the post was deleted.
The WST apologised for the mistake, saying: “The footage has now been reviewed and the official time of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s century break in frame two against Bai Langning has been confirmed as three minutes 34 seconds.”
Judd Trump, who lost to O’Sullivan in the 2022 Crucible world final, replied: “Reviewed by Tony Drago?”
World No.1 O’Sullivan, 46, concluded the second frame with a 118 break and speaking in general about his quick night’s work, he said: “I felt like I needed to speed up a bit and try to enjoy it out there.
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
“I tried to clear it up as quickly as I could, win or lose, be in and out as quickly as I could.
“Tony still plays a bit as far as I know. It’s good to be back in Edinburgh but I will play snooker anywhere to be honest.”
Elsewhere in this penultimate tournament of the year, John Higgins entertained the home crowd with a 4-2 win over Anthony Hamilton but last year’s winner Luca Brecel was eliminated 4-3 by Fraser Patrick.
The match only lasted 43 minutes in total.
O’Sullivan will play Ben Woollaston in the next round of the Scottish Open on Tuesday evening.
