POLICE have made two arrests after a snooker table was defaced at the World Snooker Championships.
Two yobs gatecrashed the Crucible on Monday evening, with one climbing onto a table and throwing orange powder over it.
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South Yorkshire Police made the following statement: “Officers made two arrests after protestors gained entry to The Crucible yesterday evening (Monday 17 April).
“A 25-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage.
“Both have now been bailed until 15 June.”
The incident occurred during the first-round match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry.
The coordinated attack also saw a woman try to climb on to table two – where Mark Allen was playing Fan Zhengyi – but she was stopped by Belgian referee Oliver Marteel.
The eco-protests saw play delayed for 40 minutes.
However, World Snooker Tour officials opted to abandon play on the damaged table.
The match between Milkins and Perry will resume its opening sessions on Tuesday evening from 7pm, but the concluding session will not commence until 9:30am on Thursday.
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On the incident, seven-time snooker world champion Stephen Hendry: “I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first.
“It is scary. Wow! You just hope the cloth can be recovered from that. It caught us all by surprise and then this happens.
“For me, straightaway as a snooker player I am thinking: ‘Is the table recoverable?’
“We don’t know what that is on the table. There is a lot of things that need working out. It is unknown territory.”
It is not the first time snooker matches at this iconic Sheffield theatre have been disrupted in such an abrupt manner.
A male streaker ran around the table before the final session of the 2008 final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter.
And last year a pigeon stopped play when it flew down from the roof and jumped on a hallow table.
The protest follows on from demonstrations at the Grand National on Sunday.
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