World Championship 2025: Rare moment in snooker as Pang Junxu called for a foul against Ronnie O'Sullivan after failing to nominate a colour

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As a seven-time world champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan does not need helping hands from his opponents, but that was what he got from Pang Junxu who made a mistake during their World Championship second-round clash at the Crucible on Saturday afternoon. Watch and stream top snooker action, including the World Championship, live and on demand on TNT Sports and discovery+

Pang called for a foul after failing to nominate a colour

Video credit: TNT Sports

Pang Junxu was up against it before he had even stepped into the Crucible arena, as his second-round opponent was Ronnie O’Sullivan, and making elementary mistakes did not aid his cause.

The Chinese player, on his third appearance at snooker’s showpiece event, found himself in trouble when O’Sullivan won the opening four frames of the contest.

After steadying the ship by taking the fifth, he got going again in the seventh but ran out of position after potting a red.

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His aim was to get on the black, but he got too friendly to the high-value colour and the white came to rest touching the black.

Ever alert, referee Jan Verhaas stepped in, had a look, and declared "touching ball."

As the cue ball was touching the black, Verhaas informed Pang that as the two balls were in contact "please declare your colour".

That is not the case when the white is touching a red, as it is evident that the player is targeting a red.

In this case, Pang had the choice of nominating yellow, green, brown, blue or pink and taking aim at one of those, or declaring black and playing away from it.

Pang assessed the situation for some time, all the white Verhaas was hovering in the background.

After taking stock of the situation, Pang got down and played away from the black in the direction of the green.

With the white in motion, Verhaas said "foul."

Pang took a startled glance to his left and looking him in the eye, Verhaas said: "You did not declare your colour and I asked you to declare. You have to declare."

There was no dissent from Pang, and to his immense credit, he returned to the table a short while later and secured the frame.

The session ended 6-2 to O’Sullivan, with the players returning on Sunday afternoon for the second session - with the action live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

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