Neil Robertson is facing a fine after conceding a frame prematurely at the World Snooker Championship due to misreading the scoreboard. The Australian world No. 3 was leading 1-0 in his first-round clash against Pang Junxu at the Crucible. However, after missing a straightforward black with the rest while trailing 57-10, Robertson conceded, allowing Pang to level the match. What the 2010 world champion failed to realize was that he was only 47 points behind with 51 points still available on the table.
Robertson incorrectly calculated that he was 57 points adrift and would require snookers to win the frame. He surrendered the frame and now faces a £250 penalty. BBC commentator and former world champion Ken Doherty reacted: "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."
Co-commentator Joe Perry added: "I'm not entirely sure Neil realized he can still win, you know, because that's totally out of character. He's going to get a warning in a minute from the referee and then he'll realize what he's done." When approached by referee Terry Camilleri, Robertson insisted he was 57 behind. But he had misread the score, as he was actually only trailing by 47, with three reds still left on the table. After Camilleri showed the score on a TV replay, Robertson acknowledged: "Ah, I miscalculated the score. Yeah, yeah, sorry. Yeah, I didn't mean it."
Doherty continued: "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." Perry added: "I thought it was a miscalculation from Neil because he would never, ever do that. It's not in Neil's character. Just a complete misread of the scores. No petulance or anger there from Neil, just a complete miscalculation. A nice little fine in the post, Ken!"
Speaking on TNT Sports, Alan McManus weighed in: "We were a little confused. But he's 47 points adrift with 51 on, so if you concede before you can numerically lose the frame, then there's a directive that players will be fined. Neil, as you can hear, says 'sorry, yeah it's cool.' I wouldn't blame Terry Camilleri on this, because I think it was the marker that alerted Terry to the indiscretion, and then Terry went and informed Neil. I wouldn't have. If he gets a parking fine, it's his parking ticket, let him deal with it. It's not for you to go and say 'just to let you know, you're going to be fined X amount of money.' Inform him after the match, not during."
Rule 4.5 (c) of the WPBSA rule book states: "A player shall not concede a frame in any match unless snookers are required. Any breach of this rule shall be regarded as ungentlemanly conduct or misconduct by the player concerned." Robertson, 44, concluded the session with a 5-4 advantage. Success against Pang would set up a second-round clash with 13th seed Chris Wakelin, with a quarter-final encounter against John Higgins or Ronnie O'Sullivan awaiting the victor of that match.
