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Frustrated Higgins crashes out of world championship

26/04/2008

John Higgins vented his anger towards tournament officials after being knocked out of this year's tournament by Ryan Day in the second round.

The defending champion said that the condition of the table he played on was "flabbergasting" after he lost 13-9. Higgins was particularly upset with the bottom cushion where the ball constantly seemed to bounce off and pick up pace.

Higgins, who smashed his fist on the table yesterday in frustration, said: "I spoke to the tournament director (Mike Ganley) about it. We are playing on the same cloth for eight days and they are going to re-cover them on Saturday night, I think.

"They should be re-covered before the second round. We are talking about the biggest tournament in our lives and the answer I get back is that they haven't got the manpower to re-cover the tables before the second round.

"It's flabbergasting, the cushions are totally unplayable. It's really pretty pathetic that they are undermanned and can't re-cover them until Saturday night but that is too late for the likes of myself."

Higgins started the final session of the match level at 8-8, but Day moved well ahead by clinching the first three frames of the day. Higgins did claim the next, but he could not stop Day from claiming the biggest win of his career.

Elsewhere, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry rolled backed the years to complete an impressive 13-7 win over rising star Ding Junhui.