World Championship final ref who clashed with Ronnie O'Sullivan giving away special item

Wales Online

18-05-2025

World Championship final ref who clashed with Ronnie O'Sullivan giving away special item
Snooker referee Desislava Bozhilova, who oversaw the recent World Championship final between Zhao Xintong and Mark Williams, is auctioning off a memorable item from the match
Desislava Bozhilova is raising money for a good cause
(Image: Getty )
A history-making snooker referee who had a run-in with Ronnie O'Sullivan is giving away a vital part of her attire in the name of charity.
Desislava Bozhilova oversaw the recent World Championship final, which saw Welsh legend Mark Williams beaten 18-12 by Zhao Xintong, who became China's first Crucible champion. The Bulgarian, one of the top referees on the World Snooker Tour, became just the second woman to oversee a World Championship final after Michaela Tabb, who took charge of the 2009 and 2012 finals.
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Bozhilova is also the first female to referee all three Triple Crown finals, having previously taken charge of the UK Championship and Masters showpieces. Having officiated the biggest match in the sport, Bozhilova could be forgiven for hanging on to every memento from the occasion, but the generous 32-year-old is auctioning off her white gloves from the final to charity.
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She posted on social media: 'Do you want my gloves from the final? There is an auction on Wednesday (May 21) at 6pm UK time for 24 hours on my Instagram page. All the money goes to charity!'
It is unclear which charity will benefit, but she has confirmed the starting bid will be €150 (£126). The auction will be hosted on her Instagram page, where bids can be placed in the comments section.
Bozhilova received a special trophy from her home federation to mark refereeing the World Championship final. Sharing a picture of the impressive trophy, she posted on Instagram: "Thank you all so much for the kind words regarding refereeing the World Final. I loved every second of it, the atmosphere was amazing and it was a pleasure to be involved in a game like that.
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Bozhilova is the first female referee to take charge of all three Triple Crown finals
(Image: Getty )
"Congratulations to Zhao Xintong on an amazing win, and also to Mark Williams for making it to his fifth World Final. Special thanks to Oleg Velinov and everyone involved in the heartfelt surprise during the final! Shout out to this amazing artist Daba (the Bulgarian artist that crafted the trophy) and the sculpture he made for me!'
Ahead of the final, Bozhilova opened up about what the appointment meant to her. She said: "It was an amazing feeling when I was given the news. It is what I have worked towards for many years, it has been my dream. It will be different to any other final because of the atmosphere at the Crucible.
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"Since I started working in snooker I have learned everything from the more experienced referees. They give advice and tell us how to improve. There is a lot of team work and we support each other."
Bozhilova's career has also featured a clash with Ronnie O'Sullivan during his Crucible quarter-final defeat to Stuart Bingham in 2024. With the match at 10-10, the Rocket refused to come to the table while fans following the match on the other table filtered back into the arena after a break.
Bozhilova re-spots the blacks as Ronnie O'Sullivan watches on during his 2024 quarter-final defeat to Stuart Bingham
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After asking fans to take their seats quickly, Bozhilova then gestured to O'Sullivan to come back to the table, but the seven-time world champion remained unconvinced.
'But we might wait 20 minutes,' said Bozhilova. O'Sullivan replied: 'It's not 20 minutes. Just chill, chill.' Bozhilova then insisted: 'I'm chilled.'
It was the second incident of the day between O'Sullivan and Bozhilova, with the Rocket turning down a red in the 12th frame after being left unhappy with how the black had been respotted.