World Snooker Championship: John Higgins rips into ‘pathetic’ scheduling as World Snooker Tour responds

Snooker star John Higgins has torn into the scheduling at the World Championship as he hit out at having to play back-to-back sessions at the Crucible.

Prompted by Eurosport’s Alan McManus in the studio, Higgins gave some forthright views about the schedule, which will see him take on fellow former world champion Mark Selby in the afternoon session on Tuesday, and then the afternoon and evening sessions on Wednesday.

“It’s pathetic, isn’t it?” Higgins responded after he was asked about the scheduling by McManus.

“Every year there’s always a quarter. Every year. I have been coming for 29 years, and every year there is always a quarter where you are going back-to-back sessions in a quarter-final of a World Championship.

“It’s terrible, it’s absolutely terrible if you think about it. For us to still be back in this historic way that you are playing a double session back-to-back in a World Championship quarter-final is pathetic!

“Why? Why are you out there playing for like 10 hours when it is simple?”

Asked how it affects the play, he explained: “It depends on the way the match is going – if you are well in front it can be great because you just want to roll on with it. But if you are well behind you want to have a little break and you don’t want the other guy to still feel good.

“It is just really bad, really bad planning and we’ve had it for so many years.”

McManus said: “You have kind of got the short straw. Does that need to be the case?

“Basically, you have got three sessions over two days. The day that you have two sessions should be morning and evening.

“Touching on that afternoon session, knowing that you are playing in the evening, you are wondering if they will pull you off. You don’t want that. You want to play eight frames, end of story.”

The World Snooker Tour responded to Higgins’ remarks with a statement that read: “The quarter-finals are scheduled to ensure that at least one match finishes in each session on Wednesday.

“It is important for our international broadcasters to spread the match finishes across the three sessions in this way, and we have to take this into account while trying to make the schedule as fair as possible for all players.”

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