Snooker: Robertson out of World Open after driving to wrong Barnsley

FILE PHOTO: Snooker – BetVictor Welsh Open Final – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales – 21/2/16
Neil Robertson in action during the final Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Rebecca Naden Livepic

(Reuters) – Former snooker world champion Neil Robertson found out the hard way that there are two Barnsleys in England when he was forced to forfeit his World Open qualifier after he drove to the wrong location on the map.

The qualifiers were being held at the Barnsley Metrodome in Yorkshire but the Australian set his satellite navigation to direct him to the village of Barnsley in Gloucestershire instead, which was 170 miles away.

Robertson, the 2010 world champion, was drawn to play England’s Ian Burns but once he realized he was at the wrong venue he called up the organizers to withdraw, allowing Burns to go through to the final stages in China later this month.

“When I realized there was a second Barnsley it was too late to get to the other one,” he wrote on Twitter here

This is not the first time Robertson has had to withdraw from a tournament this year after his travel plans went awry. A canceled flight in July prevented the 37-year-old from playing in the Riga Masters in Latvia.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to either play or complete a match this season,” he said.

Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Tony Lawrence

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

source: reuters.com